Aurora puts on a show for the south

Ethan Van Staden was stoked with his first attempt at shooting an aurora on Sunday night. Photo / Ethan Van Staden

Night sky-watchers in southern parts of the country witnessed a spectacular aurora on Sunday night, with numerous pictures posted to social media.

Dunedinite Ethan Van Staden photographed his first aurora on Sunday with this breathtaking self-portrait in the dunes at Blackhead Beach, just south of St Clair.

"That was my first time capturing the aurora, so pretty stoked how it came out," Van Staten said.

The image was a 30-second exposure at f2.8 and ISO3200 through a 24mm lens, so he had to stand pretty still.

The aurora Australis is generally more common through the winter months and at the spring Equinox (in September) but can be viewed all year round.

Andrew Clark held his breath for 25 seconds to get this shot of the aurora Australis. Photo / Andrew Clark

Andrew Clark, also of Dunedin, had to hold his breath for 25 seconds for his shot of the aurora. He was on the beach for a total of three hours and snapped his picture using a wide-angle lens at f3.5, again at ISO3200. The result drew comments of "wow" and "stunning as always" and "fantastic" from Clark's followers on Facebook.

Sunday night's light show was the result of an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME) from a long-lasting solar flare on March 10.

The resultant geomagnetic storm peaked overnight on Sunday, but activity will continue for a few more days and the sky will put on a bit of a show over the next few days.

New Zealand Aurora Australia Facebook group recommended hopeful aurora watchers should watch readings carefully for solar activity. KP (expected geomagnetic conditions) were presented as an average on aurora apps and the magnitude is known to fluctuate. But if numbers do dip it should be short-lived.