Southern lights / Milky Way

[Robusta20]

Has anyone experienced southern lights or seen the Milky Way from the ship during the New Zealand cruise? I know sometimes the ship is too bright to even see the stars.

[Aus Traveller]

Has anyone experienced southern lights or seen the Milky Way from the ship during the New Zealand cruise? I know sometimes the ship is too bright to even see the stars.

The Milky Way is visible every night that is not overcast, but you will need to find a part of the ship where there are few lights. Maybe your cruise will have some astronomy sessions or night-sky viewing.

 

The southern lights (Aurora Australis) can be seen on occasions when near the southern part of New Zealand, but that is a matter of luck. Currently the Sun is having a 'quiet period' so there is less likelihood of seeing aurora, either in the Northern hemisphere or the Southern. Aurora in the Southern hemisphere is a mirror image of that in the North.

[Robusta20]

Awesome! Thank you very much.

[cassamanda]

The Milky Way can be seen from anywhere on land or sea in the southern hemisphere and especially from southern Australian states. Find a dark night sky outside the city lights.

 

Dont forget to also look for the Southern Cross in the southern sky looking towards the south from high overhead to lower on the horizon. The 2 pointers point away from the cross towards the south pole.

[karenjnz]

The Aurora Australis has been quite active recently, the last was April 17 before that April 13, I am at the bottom of the South Island of NZ and we see it resonably often, weather permitting of course.

 

Have a look at this group, Aurora Australis New Zealand - CURRENT ALERTS for alerts and this one for photos https://www.********************/NZaurora/ for some reason the links wont work, maybe because you have to join the groups, but if you google Aurora Australis on facebook and Aurora Astralis Alerts you might find them :-)

Edited April 24, 2016 by karenjnz

[Bagwhan]

The Aurora Australis has been quite active recently, the last was April 17 before that April 13, I am at the bottom of the South Island of NZ and we see it resonably often, weather permitting of course.

 

Have a look at this group, Aurora Australis New Zealand - CURRENT ALERTS for alerts and this one for photos https://www.********************/NZaurora/ for some reason the links wont work, maybe because you have to join the groups, but if you google Aurora Australis on facebook and Aurora Astralis Alerts you might find them :-)

 

Not sure on how accurate this site is but it also does offer free (their words) text/sms alerts to Aus/NZ mobiles for a monthly subscription of AUD$8? (Don't know how you call that free however!).

Aurora Australis The three day forecast could be easier enough to use for a cruise around NZ later this year (end Nov/Dec).

 

Cheers

John

[karenjnz]

The alert group is very accurate, it's used by locals who watch whatever it is that you watch and then let others know what is going on lol

Then on the other group photos are posted, there are some awesome images posted on there, worth the join just to check them out [emoji3]