Stargazers were treated to a stunning display of lights that illuminated the sky in South Australia, courtesy of a severe geomagnetic storm, with more scheduled for tonight.
The aurora australis put on one of its best shows in the last decade on Friday night due to a series of huge solar charges and “coronal mass ejections” emitted by the sun earlier in the week.
The stunning southern lights, usually only seen in Tasmania, were visible in Victoria, SA and WA, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s Australian Space Weather Forecast Center issued a warning for G5 (extreme) geomagnetic storm conditions on Saturday.
The phenomenon, caused by the solar wind altering Earth’s ionosphere, stirring up gas particles and producing light, is the southern hemisphere’s counterpart to the aurora borealis, or aurora borealis.
Red light is usually seen at higher altitudes, then green and blue light at lower levels.
Solar wind can also affect electrical and communications infrastructure, such as power grids, satellite signals, GPS services, and radio or television broadcasts.
The aurora australis was seen as far north as South Africa (pictured), Victoria and northern WA on Friday.
The phenomenon is caused by the solar wind stirring up gas particles in the ionosphere, causing light.
The lights of Coodlie Park Eco Retreat on the Eyre Peninsula (photo: Krystina Rose)
The office issued an updated alert on Saturday.
‘Severe geomagnetic storm in progress. “The auroras can be observed at night under good viewing conditions up to the mid-latitudes,” the office said.
In a press release he stated that there was no danger to humans.
“The warning issued for this event informs the government and critical infrastructure operators so that they can take measures to mitigate potential impacts on essential infrastructure assets and services,” the statement read.
“The Bureau continues to monitor the situation and will provide updates on significant changes.”
While a solar storm has the potential to cause damage to our electrical and radio networks, it poses no danger to humans.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), through its Space Weather Prediction Center, issued a global G4 Geometric Storm Watch for the first time since 2005.
“This is an unusual and potentially historic event,” said Clinton Wallace, director of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
There is a chance to see the Aurora Australis as far north as Sydney and Perth, mainly in dark sky environments away from cities.
Incredibly, a photographer posted a photograph of the phenomenon taken in Karratha, in the Pilbara region of WA, which is further north than Mackay in Queensland.
Massive solar flares earlier in the week sparked the geomagnetic storm.
The lights could be seen from across South Australia (photo: Linda N Irwin-Oak)
The Bureau of Meteorology said electrical and communications infrastructure could be affected.
The sun is continually erupting and throwing particles into space, but since it is 150 million kilometers from Earth, it rarely reaches us and, if it does, it only causes a minor G1 or G2 storm.
If a geomagnetic storm reaches level five, satellites could collide with other objects in space or the atmosphere and suffer physical damage from supercharged “killer electrons” that would crash into important sections of the hardware, rendering it useless.
The last severe geomagnetic storm occurred in 2022, which destroyed up to 40 Starlink satellites valued at over $50 million, sending them back to Earth, but fortunately they burned up in the atmosphere.
People reported Friday that their Starlink internet was down following the first explosion from space that hit Earth around 1:45 p.m. ET.
It remains unlikely that wireless connectivity will be directly affected by the storm because these networks rely on different radio frequencies than GPS systems.
Even if GPS functions are affected, people will likely still be able to maintain a map showing their approximate location.
The power grid is more prepared than in similar geomagnetic storms in the past because they now have backup power generators and cell towers that can come online if the cell towers lose power.
Flight patterns may also be affected during these storms because commercial airlines are warned to stay away from the Earth’s poles because they risk losing communication and navigation systems.
