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Home / New Zealand

Southern Lights return to New Zealand skies for a second spectacular night

NZ Herald
23 Apr, 2017 07:20 PM2 mins to read

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Ekant Veer captured an amazing timelapse of the Aurora Australis from Birdlings Flat, Canterbury. www.facebook.com/EkantTakePhotos

Night sky watchers have been treated to a second night of the stunning Southern Lights.

Sightings were reported in Wellington, Christchurch, rural Canterbury and Central Otago last night.

The aurora from Eely Pt in Wanaka last night. Photo / Lisa Brown
The aurora from Eely Pt in Wanaka last night. Photo / Lisa Brown

Rose Mary Mellado watched the Aurora Australis, better known as the Southern Lights, from a farm paddock in rural Selwyn, near Christchurch.

"This is my first experience with aurora ... happy me!", she wrote on the Aurora Australis Alerts Facebook page.

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The aurora, seen from farmland in Selwyn, west of Christchurch. Photo / Rose Mary Mellado
The aurora, seen from farmland in Selwyn, west of Christchurch. Photo / Rose Mary Mellado

Very short time lapse of tonight's Aurora activity here in Christchurch...

Posted by Shot by Zayd on Sunday, 23 April 2017

Others also spotted the celestial delight.

Half of Wellington down the south coast tonight for aurora australis. @interislander on horizon @OwhiroBay @SouthcoastNZ @wellingtonlive_ pic.twitter.com/jsF3qvuUyK

— Lynsey (@lynzsutt) April 23, 2017
The aurora, seen from Christchurch last night. Photo / www.facebook.com/shotbyzayd
The aurora, seen from Christchurch last night. Photo / www.facebook.com/shotbyzayd

It was a weekend of wonders, with the lights spotted as far north as Auckland the previous night.

Self-described Auckland "aurora hunter" Gareth West got the shot of a lifetime when he captured the Southern Lights over the Manukau Heads on Saturday night.

"The opportunity to catch one is rare unless the aurora index, which is called the KP index, goes over six, and last night [Saturday] it got from about 6.5 to seven ... that's nearly unheard of, and a very, very rare thing to happen.

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"So we went there and thought, let's just see what happens, and then she erupted all over New Zealand.

The aurora, seen from Auckland, on Saturday night. Photo / Gareth West/Focused West Photography
The aurora, seen from Auckland, on Saturday night. Photo / Gareth West/Focused West Photography

"You might see the odd air glow, or the glow of an aurora, but to see the full-on beams, the redness, and the way it erupted ... and to photograph it, well, there have only been a handful of people that have ever done it."

Also on Saturday night, Canterbury photographer Ekant Veer snapped what he described as "by the biggest Aurora Australis display I've seen".

In a Facebook post, Veer described it as "a surreal experience to see it dancing across the sky".

The aurora, as photographed by Ekant Veer on Saturday night. Photo / Ekant Veer
The aurora, as photographed by Ekant Veer on Saturday night. Photo / Ekant Veer

Not everyone was so fortunate though, Jo Faulkner shared her jealously on Twitter.

I'm jealous of all the #AuroraAustralis posts. Seeing an Aurora is on my bucket list pic.twitter.com/WtuJghezqA

— ⭐I am JoF™❗♡ (@IamnowMrsF) April 23, 2017

The Aurora Australis is the result of particles in solar winds colliding with atmospheric gases.

The particles converge and become more visible close to the poles of the earth.

Its better-known cousin is the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, which draws millions of tourists to Nordic countries each year.

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