Aurora

John Golja

Image taken:

Mar. 12, 2012

Location:

Tooradin, Victoria, Australia.

Details:

The Southern Lights (Aurora Australis) were seen from Tooradin, in southern Victoria, Australia looking southward over Philip Island on Monday night (12/3/2012) at 11pm local time (12:00UT). The sky display was difficult to see with the naked eye because of the rising moon, but the camera caught nature's wonder in action. The moving curtain of light faded in and out over a 15minute period and it disappeared as quickly as it arrived. The actual aurora occured around 100km above the ocean, south of Tasmania but was seen in southern Victoria only in darkened sites away from the city lights. It was caused by the recent Solar activity on March 10th and it took the high energy particles 2 days to reach earth where it interacted with the Earth's magnetic field, causing the beautiful display. Photo Details - MG_6320: Canon 400D 24sec exposure, f4 at 28mm on ISO400. Photo Details - MG_6311: Canon 400D 77sec exposure, f4 at 28mm on ISO400.