As there has been increased sunspot activity lately we have been keeping an eye on the aurora forecasts, and last nights looked promising. Weather not so much, but we went for a drive out to our go to place near the Mt to see if we could see it. It was partly cloudy, but there was some action in the sky. It was faint to the naked eye once your eyes adjusted, but timed exposures on DSLR and fancy cellphones really captured it.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10460/IMG_3406es.JPG) (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=359541)
The bright white is low hanging cloud lit up by the lights around Kapuni (gas production / dairy factory / fertiliser plant). I'd set up so they were blocked by some bushes. The street lights would be the town of Manaia.
Anyone up North seeing anything?
Some friends in AK spotted some. Are your auroras always red/ pink? Ours are almost always green/ blue/ white colors.
Quote from: Otis1 on June 01, 2025, 09:09:14 PMSome friends in AK spotted some. Are your auroras always red/ pink? Ours are almost always green/ blue/ white colors.
It depends how high in the atmosphere the aurora is occurring, and how intense the storm is. The red only shows 180 to 250 miles up, and is faint because the air up there is so thin. It would often be drowned out by brighter displays down lower if you are further Nth or South. It only becomes noticeable in intense displays. As we are around the limits for seeing aurora, we generally only get the red ones, low down on the horizon. Further South they can see the red band across the top, changing to the green / white as it descends.
This page explains it, and in their picture if "Red Aurora", what we are seeing would be the top 1/2 of the picture, the greener area is below that, and over the horizon (or behind clouds) from our location.
https://www.space.com/aurora-colors-explained
This page has pictures from Dunedin (lower Sth Island), and the more greenish areas that you are used to seeing are visible, with the red higher up. But if you were under the green area, chances are you wouldn't really see the faint red above?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360709120/aurora-could-be-visible-early-monday
This diagram shows the different colours / heights. If the aurora is strong, but distant, you only see the red, If it's overhead, you see the green, and that blots out the higher / fainter red.
aurora colours.jpg