{"id":541455,"date":"2026-03-15T06:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T06:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/541455\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T06:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T06:34:12","slug":"southern-lights-stun-across-otago-southland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/541455\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern lights stun across Otago-Southland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Star-gazers in the South Island were treated to a spectacular showing of a purple-green Aurora australis last night.<\/p>\n

Kiwis from across the lower South Island sent photos to 1News, showing the sight in all its glory. <\/p>\n

One such viewer shared a photo from Lake Ellesmere in Canterbury.<\/p>\n

\"Aurora<\/p>\n

Aurora at Lake Ellesmere, Canterbury (Source: Merv Moodie)<\/p>\n

Holly Keeling said she was returning from hunting on Omarama Station when she saw “the most amazing southern lights”.<\/p>\n

\"Aurora<\/p>\n

Aurora australis seen in Omarama (Source: Holly Keeling)<\/p>\n

Keeling said she didn’t initially realise the extent of the aurora. <\/p>\n

“I thought, oh, the sky looks funny. But you couldn’t really see the bright colours without the camera, you could just tell that something wasn’t quite normal with the sky.”<\/p>\n

When Keeling looked back at a photo she’d taken, she was shocked<\/p>\n

“I took a photo and I was like OMG, it was amazing,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s definitely one of the best ones I’ve seen since living here.”<\/p>\n

Another person who sent photos to 1News captured a series, showing how the dynamic lights shifted colour and brightness over time.<\/p>\n

\"Purple<\/p>\n

Purple and green light up Queenstown (Source: Michelle Baskett)<\/p>\n

Earth Sciences NZ said space weather like this can be predicted based on the Sun’s activity. <\/p>\n

Aurorae occur when particles from extreme solar events interact with gases around Earth’s poles. <\/p>\n

Typically, the light shows occur in lower polar regions because they’re closer to the magnetic pole. <\/p>\n

\"Aurora<\/p>\n

Aurora australis seen above Queenstown (Source: Michelle Baskett)<\/p>\n

When the solar event is more extreme, Auroras can be seen higher on the globe. <\/p>\n

In January this year, a similarly stunning solar storm prompted incredible sights<\/a> as high as the lower North Island. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The light’s colours shifted substantially. (Source: Michelle Baskett)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Star-gazers in the South Island were treated to a spectacular showing of a purple-green Aurora australis last night.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[64,63,243448,128,127292,285,60316],"class_list":["post-541455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dunedin-otago","tag-science","tag-southland","tag-space","tag-weather-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}