The beautiful white dome of Mount Burnett Observatory has captured several shots of last night’s aurora and the volunteers were very excited.
Thanks to the AllSky camera at Mount Burnett footage was captured of the celestial events from the evening of 12 August.
The public relations coordinator from Mount Burnett Denise Kutchmar said that the Aurora alert was sent out as a Kp7 then downgraded to a Kp6.
“That’s still pretty significant in this part of the globe,” she said.
The level of geomagnetic activity is indicated by the planetary K index or Kp.
The Kp index ranges from 0 to 9. Geomagnetic activity is driven by solar activity and solar coronal holes and it changes with time.
Ms Kutchmar said that the Aurora started southeast at 7.30 pm and continued throughout the night with four bursts recorded at 10pm, 1pm, 3pm and 4pm, visible for up to one hour.
“By 5am the curtain closed with a green glow on the horizon,” she said.
It’s the second time since the grand Aurora event on 11 May that the Aurorua has been captured at the observatory.
“We anticipate this blockbuster show is not over yet,” Ms Kutchmar said.
