Tasmanians were treated to a spectacular show of the aurora australis on Thursday night, with viewers describing it as "the best and strongest" they had seen in years.
The aurora is a natural display of lights in the sky — appearing as rays, curtains, flickers or spirals. It's usually seen around the Antarctic and Arctic regions.
The Bureau of Meteorology has describes it as "one of nature's most spectacular visual phenomena", taking place when "favourable" space weather activity occurs.
It hit on Thursday night and was visible in areas across the state: in Blackman's Bay and Clifton Beach near Hobart, in Launceston and Devonport in the north, in Ross in the east and in Queenstown in the west.
Solar weather forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology Zandria Farrell said this was a particularly widespread lightshow.
"This aurora event was seen as high up as in the Mallee in Victoria, and there were reports of faint sightings as far across as Perth," she said.
Sam Deighton captured a two-hour timelapse of the aurora, looking out over Hobart's southern suburbs.
"She went absolutely wild just after the last light of sunset disappeared."
Photographer Deni Cupit snapped the aurora and said: "Last night looked like another world."
Carmel Gledhill said you could see the aurora with the naked eye, "all you had to do is look south".
Ms Gledhill was on top of kunanyi/Mt Wellington, where she saw "hands down the best and strongest aurora" she'd seen in "years".
We're about to see more of the aurora, expert says
Ms Farrell said sightings of auroras were about to become more frequent.
"The size and frequency of these events will increase as we head towards a solar maximum, which is going to occur around 2023," she said.
But that may not be all good news, she said.
"While solar events produce a stunning night sky, these events can also impact how aircraft operate and land, due to disruptions in global positioning satellites," she said.
"They could also impact energy markets by disturbing the current in the system, and in a worst-case scenario, even cause a blackout."
The aurora occurs when solar flares blast streams of particles from the sun, which then go into solar winds and head towards Earth.
"These particles are directed by magnetic fields to the Earth, where they collide with atoms in the atmosphere," Ms Farrell said.
"These collisions are what you see as the beautiful lights, and what we call aurora."
If you missed the aurora you can subscribe to alerts from the BOM here.
