Massive Aurora! The physics behind the light show

While observing at the observatory in Takapō I was lucky enough to witness the largest aurora that New Zealand has had in a long time. We'll look at the physics behind what makes them and then some awesome time-lapses I made of it!

[@mariegilbert3272]

Absolutely breathtaking! Thanks Ryan for sharing. The kids and I loved it. You work in a beautiful place !

Wow, thanks a lot. Truly a wonderful sight.

btw: I would love to hear how you actually captured the images. Those stars are very well captured. I still struggle a lot to capture just a little bit of the night sky.

[@rohitshankariitg]

We stayed up all night here at the Yukon watching the CME...... It was indeed a stunning light show in the north as well

[@stanikbr]

amazing!

[@ronmani9476]

Wow... what a show. I was hoping it would get down to us here on vancouver island but we just missed it.

[@tyshingleton7005]

Just utterly stunning

[@silviomanuel473]

This is awesome

[@michaelmayhem350]

I remember awhile back you asked for video suggestions. I'd love to hear your thoughts on planet 9 and why you think it doesn't/does exist

[@pepaxxxsvinka3379]

Congrats on 8.88K

[@klausgartenstiel4586]

one more reason to visit new zealand 😍 (the other one being the accent 🙄)

[@MrBean0114]

Lovely video! Did you know there was gonna be an aurora beforehand or did you happen to come across it?

[@MinedMaker]

It's not uncommon now for potentially spectacular auroras to be announced a few days or hours beforehand based on incoming data from our different solar observatories/satellites. I think I even heard some mention of this event in the news.

[@RyanRidden]

Depending on the velocity of the flare/CME you can have somewhere between 10 hours to a few days warning. I only heard that there might be an aurora the morning before. I had no idea it would be so spectacular!

[@MrBean0114]

@@RyanRidden That's awesome! Where do you get your aurora notifications from?