“It was the most spectacular aurora show I have ever witnessed,” Saunders said.
“You could easily see giant beams of light dancing across the sky. Our eyes can’t pick up the colours as well as the camera, but you could definitely make out the incredible green and purple colours.”
Also called the southern lights, aurora australis is a natural display of light from sun particles interacting with earth’s magnetic field, which can be seen on clear nights in southern parts of New Zealand.
Saunders said getting aurora alerts from Twitter or other sites was handy as some nights were better than others.
“Get out somewhere dark away from city lights and look down south on a good clear night, and you will be in for a real treat,” he said.
More dazzling auroras are expected because of a period of solar maximum.
Both the aurora australis and aurora borealis have been particularly active following recent solar storms, more of which were expected this week.
Astronomer Dr Ian Griffin said the solar storms were caused by magnetically driven explosions on the sun, which fire material at high speed away from the sun.
“If the sun spots (are) in the right position on the sun, that material will head directly towards the earth.”
Griffin said a period of solar maximum happened once every 11 years when the sun was particularly active with lots of spots on its surface.
The solar maximum had also occurred at a time when more solar activity was already expected, he said.
“In March and September, near the equinoxes, earth’s magnetic field is more easily coupled with the sun’s, and that means we get even more solar activity.”
For those wanting to see the southern lights, Griffin said a clear night away from the city lights with a view to the south was optimal.
For those wanting to photograph the aurora: “Put your camera on a tripod and set the speed as high as it will go and open the shutter for about five to 10 seconds, maybe a bit longer,” Griffin said.