Meanwhile in the Southern Hemisphere

Meanwhile in the Southern Hemisphere

While much attention is being paid to the fact that September's equinox kicked off aurora season in the Northern Hemisphere, we should not forget that the Southern Hemisphere has just experienced the exact same equinox. It is aurora season there, too. Petr Horálek sends this example of Southern Lights over Lauder, New Zealand, on Sept 25th:

 

"The auroras burned very low above the southern horizon here at the NIWA atmospheric research station," Horálek says. "The opened dome is the BOOTES telescope, which is used to detect the optical afterglow of distant gamma-ray bursts. A green lidar behind me reflected from the dome, giving it a green hue."

For reasons researchers do not fully understand, at this time of year even gentle gusts of solar wind can ignite beautiful auroras. Indeed, this weekend Earth is passing through a minor stream of solar wind that has both poles aglow.

 

From SpaceWeather.com