Aurora

The southern lights – aurora australis, or ‘nuyina’ in palawa kani – is a regular, albeit elusive visitor to Tasmania’s pristine skies. One of the best places to view them is facing the Hazards range, extending on the opposite side of the world-famous Wineglass Bay.

This particular night saw close to 700km of driving, and one very tired Benjamin.

In a narrow sliver of Tasmania’s highlands, one species dominates the landscape: the Miena Cider Gum (Eucalyptus gunnii subsp. divaricata). Found in only a few dozen hectares of exposed plateau, many members of the population have left ghostly remains after extensive fire damage. Owing to Bortle 1 skies (the darkest class of sky, akin to the void of space with no terrestrial interference to inhibit visibility of faint details) the area serves as fertile ground for imaging, often pairing both galactic and atmospheric sights – such as the "dark emu", intensely colourful airglow, and the aurora as seen on this evening – seamlessly.

The twin irregular galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (Nubeculae Magellani), are two of the most prominent features in the southern sky. Closely following the rotation of the heavens about the celestial pole, they never set in the skies above Tasmania.

This particular aurora defied all reason and was sending large, vivid pulses during a period where no activity should be possible. Sometimes it’s the most confusing things that are the most beautiful.