It would be negligent of me to not acknowledge the massive reaction of charged particles which recently got ejected from the sun and reacted with the various gases in the atmosphere… Or what is commonly referred to as the Aurora Australis.
Holy freaking shit balls. That was the most insane sky I have ever seen. Granted, over the past few years I haven’t really spent much time out after dark chasing auroras. However, in the years that I did (and the stupid amount of time I gave up sleeping for it) I never even dreamt we would get a monster storm like this one.
I’m still kind of lazy though. Contemplated the idea of going out to one of my old spots, but after a few Facebook conversations decided not too. Apparently all the old spots which were once empty are now populated by hoards of people. I guess with the popularity of the aurora australis, chasing them and the technological advances in phone photography it was inevitable.
Nikon Z6ii Aurora
So instead of venturing out, I just hung around on the oval across the road, and in my back yard. Unfortunately I have recently gone from a DSLR to a mirrorless system, and stupidly (but it didn’t seem stupid at the time) I sold my old set up. Which included the set up I used for Auroras and night photography. The widest I have now is 28mm, which is fine, but also just not wide enough to get a decent shot from my backyard. I also seem to have completely forgotten how to shoot night time stuff. Don’t use it you lose it!
iPhone Aurora
Fortunately, iPhones take a pretty decent pic these days. Charlie showed me how to set it to 10 second exposure too and I am quite impressed. Especially considering I have an iPhone 14 which is probably the worst of the iPhone cameras to date…
Timelapse
The Nikon was set up on the deck doing a bit of a timelapse anyway. I just needed to remember to keep checking it and wiping the condensation off the lens. The tea towel thrown over the top was protecting the body, but the glass kept condensing up. Can’t throw a tea towel over that!
So there you have it. My record (to add to the rest of the population of Tasmanias records) of the biggest geomagnetic storm to hit Australia for about 20 years. Sitting here now at 2 am I am thinking I might invest in a nice wide angle for the Nikon. Although chances are I won’t be inclined to head out Aurora Australis chasing these days. I can just see everyone elses photos on the interwebs.
The night I saw the best ever Aurora (apart from tonight) – Camping With Beams
Auroras and Sunsets and stuff – From Summit to Not Summit
Explaining and Aurora to an eight year old – Aurora for Evan
And a by product of when we used to chase Auroras, back before predictions were as accurate – Red Tide That is Blue
