Southern Lights Tasmania 2014 – this year has been a little light on for great displays of the aurora australis, but over the past couple of weeks we have been treated to two. I missed the first one – mistakenly looking at the clouds and going to bed. It seems the clouds cleared soon after I made that decision… Determined not to miss out on two in a row, I drove out to South Arm on Easter Sunday and low and behold… a very nice display took place. It must be said, due to the very bright moonlight, this aurora was mostly “in camera” – I could see a glow the entire time, but couldn’t really make out the beaming too much at all. Of course, I am often looking at the cameras more than the sky so that probably doesn’t help!

Southern Lights Tasmania 2014: South Arm April 21

Southern Lights Tasmania 2014: South Arm April 21

Southern Lights Tasmania 2014: South Arm April 21

Aurora Australis Tasmania 2014: South Arm April 21

I took two cameras with me this time, and decided to embrace the 21st century tradition of the “selfie” and took my first “Aurora Selfie” The moonlight really made this shot possible, as the foreground was nicely lit. All I had to do was sit extremely still for the 10 second exposure!

Aurora “Selfie” 🙂

The Star Trail image below is a stack of eight x 5 minute exposures (shot at ISO 80). Again the moonlight I believe has greatly added to these aurora shots. The aurora itself may have suffered from the moonlight but having the foreground detail adds a nice landscape element to the photo.

Aurora Australis, Southern Lights Tasmania with Startrails

I have an Aurora Australis Tasmania index page – please feel free to check out my other Aurora shots from all over Tasmania from the past two years or so.