In a rare event, the Aurora Australis has been spotted through the lens of a camera from Soldiers Beach on the Central Coast.
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Ian Williams, of Gwandalan, said he couldn't see the aurora - also known as the Southern Lights - with the naked eye from that location. But he could see it through the lens of his camera at a particular setting.
"It acts like a mini-telescope and collects far more light than the naked eye," Ian said.
"The camera is capturing all that light data, but far more quickly than our eyes."
Ian's photo shows "pink beams of the aurora under the Southern Cross to the left, with the light pollution from The Entrance, Gosford and Sydney to the right".
The auroras have different colours, depending where in the world it is spotted.
"We tend to get the reddish and pinkish auroras. They occur at higher altitudes than the greens and yellows in places like Iceland, which I've been lucky enough to go to.
"With the Aurora Borealis [the Northern Lights] you see a green colour. Down in Tasmania, you get yellow and green.
"The level of intensity of the light, particularly on the mainland, is below that level of sensitivity of our eye to detect the colours."
He has previously shot the aurora from the Snowy Mountains, though.
"I saw the white arc of the aurora with the naked eye there. As soon as I took the shots, it brought out the yellows and greens and reds," he said.
The aurora that he photographed on Wednesday night was triggered by a "coronal mass ejection blown off by the sun that impacted the Earth earlier that day".
"It basically messes with the Earth's magnetic field and triggers the aurora," he said.
"The colour is due to the excitation of atoms and gases in the Earth's upper atmosphere."
Ian said Soldiers Beach, just south of Norah Head, was a good place to see the aurora.
"One of the problems with shooting in our neck of the woods is you have the light pollution from Newcastle, The Entrance and Gosford. You're trying to find a location that has darker skies."
He said the northern part of Stockton sand dunes would also be a good place to see the aurora.
Ian went aurora hunting after looking up a forecast online and examining solar wind data that predicted possible auroral activity, which could be photographed north of Sydney.
He arrived at Soldiers Beach at about 8.30pm and spotted the aurora soon after. It hung around for about half an hour.
"I started getting auroral colour almost immediately," he said.
"Sometimes it can be a brief display for a couple of minutes," he said.
Ian said he chases auroras because "I love the colours".
"It's an amazing natural phenomenon. I love being in the outdoors. It gives me a good excuse to be under the stars, in the fresh air and enjoying the wonders of the natural world."
Amen to that.
Little Blue Spaceship
When we think about the auroras, we think of DJ Chris from the 1990s TV series Northern Exposure.
While talking on the radio about the Aurora Borealis in Alaska, he said: "It's easy to think our planet is a pretty sedentary orb but it's not. This little blue spaceship that we call home is on a journey - it's hurtling through space at 67,000 mph, and right now, we're punching a hole through literal stardust".
Touche.
