A magnificent Aurora Australis shone over the South Island sky last night.
Otago Museum director Ian Griffin, who is a keen aurora chaser, told RNZ's Karyn Hay last night there was a fabulous display of the Southern Lights over Hoopers Inlet in Dunedin Harbour.
"We've had beams, we've had, on the camera at least, lots of different colours, purples and green. The sky has been full of rays, so it's been pretty spectacular."
The Aurora could be seen from elevated parts of Christchurch such as the top of the Port Hills. In Dunedin the entire sky lit up, Griffin said, and it was probably visible for most of the South Island.
If skies were clear for the lower North Island, then it may have been visible there too, he said.
The various colours are caused by atoms in the atmosphere glowing at different altitudes, he said.
"There was a tremendous explosion on the Sun a few days ago and that raced across the Solar System and it hit the Earth's magnetic field ... and auroras have been seen all over the world [today], all the way from Scotland right down to southern New Zealand."
Griffin had four or five cameras to capture the sight, which will be used for a show at Otago Museum.
"I've been trying to take as many aurora pictures as possible and make some little movies."
