Win a seat to the Southern Lights on an aurora hunting charter flight

Aurora hunters: Thanks to science a spectacular lightshow is almost guaranteed. Photo / Shandell Venegas, Unsplash

A travel company is gearing up to deliver New Zealand's most ambitious scenic charter flight in years, and they're offering a seat for free.

Packing an Air New Zealand Dreamliner with aurora hunters and astrological experts the Southern Lights flight departs from Christchurch Airport next month with an almost guaranteed sighting of the Aurora Australis.

The legendary Southern Lights are famously illusive. The reliance on cloud-free heavens and solar flares mean they are rarely seen in the skies over Southern New Zealand. Most have never witnessed the auroras. However the tour company Viva Expeditions has stacked the odds in the favour of the flyers.

Travelling above the cloud line, and timed for the Autumn Equinox on 21 March viewing conditions will be perfect.

Led by Otago University's celebrity astrophysicist Dr Ian Griffin, the astronomer says the flight will benefit from the Russell McPherron effect which is observed during the equinox. During this period interplay of interplanetary magnetic fields create "windows" into space - through which the aurora is observed at its most vivid.

Ticket to the lights: Aurora hunters will pass within 2 degrees latitude of Antarctica. Photo / Supplied

The coincidence of the Autumn equinox and a new moon was an opportunity too good to pass up.

"Flying into the Southern auroral zone is a wonderful experience," said Dr Griffin, who flew with the first commercial 'aurora hunting' flight out of Dunedin in 2017. "You never know quite what you are going to see."

Fares on the plane cost between $1195 and $6995 for Business-class service. However, one guest will be flying for free.

The Company is giving away one ticket aboard the Southern Lights flight by raffle. Entries will have to apply by 2 March and be able to travel from Christchurch on 21 March, with winners drawn on 3 March.

To enter and for further details, see vivaexpeditions.com