Aurora Report 30 October 2003

After the powerful CME solar event of 29 October 2003, I observed an
aurora between 2am-3.30am local daylight savings time from Wollongong,
New South Wales, Australia.
It was not very bright although digital photographs showed an intense red
below turning to blue on the higher sections. it consisted of slow moving
"searchlight beams" that travelled west to east, in a slow
consistent fashion, sometimes fading in and out. Mostly the beams were
faint but distinct and quite tall reaching as high as the top of the
Southern Cross, apart from a small number of beams that increased in
brightness at 3am for 5 minutes. It was still a beautiful sight and 90
minutes is quite a long period to view such an event considering the high
latitude of 35 deg. S.

Christian Wilson