WEBVTT - Amateur astronomer captures incredible solar storm in the Wheatbelt

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<v Speaker 1>Did you get a glimpse of the Aurora Australis last night?

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<v Speaker 1>Matt Woods from the per Observatory went on a trek

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<v Speaker 1>last night and got some absolutely amazing photos. Could I Matt?

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<v Speaker 2>Good to talk to you, Hey, Simon, how are you

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<v Speaker 2>doing good?

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<v Speaker 1>Mate? Where did you end up having to get to

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<v Speaker 1>to get those photos?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah? I traveled out to the central Wheat Belt, so

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<v Speaker 2>I went to Boyd and Rock near Brookton. I had

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<v Speaker 2>thought about going to Mount Dale and testing my SUV's

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<v Speaker 2>ability to climb a mountain, but it was a little

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<v Speaker 2>bit too close to the cloudy weather, so I just

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<v Speaker 2>continued on and had a little bit of a ten

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<v Speaker 2>minute track up to the rock, and thankfully it was

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<v Speaker 2>a really nice view. You could just make it out

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<v Speaker 2>as a grayish, pinkish haze on the southeast corner, but

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<v Speaker 2>as soon as I started taking the photos you could

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<v Speaker 2>clearly see it.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's the thing, isn't it? And there was some

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<v Speaker 1>cloud cover metro last night, so it was always going

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<v Speaker 1>to be tricky. So the further un east, the more

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<v Speaker 1>guy you got. That's the thing, isn't it matter? Often

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<v Speaker 1>to the naked eye, as you say, just looks like

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<v Speaker 1>a like a bit of a bit hazy, but often

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<v Speaker 1>a camera lens really puts in focus, doesn't it.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it was looking really promising like it could possibly

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<v Speaker 2>be something like say August last year, where if you

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<v Speaker 2>were down like I was down at Ireland Point Reserve

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<v Speaker 2>just twenty minutes south of Mandra and you could clearly

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<v Speaker 2>see it with your own eyes. We weren't fully you know,

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<v Speaker 2>we weren't expecting it to be anything like May or October.

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<v Speaker 2>Where it was. It didn't matter where you were, even

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<v Speaker 2>in the suburbs, you could still see that red. But

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<v Speaker 2>it just unfortunately there's the polarity just we needed it

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<v Speaker 2>to be a negative polarity, and it was a positive.

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<v Speaker 2>So you know, in terms of when the storm hitting

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<v Speaker 2>the earth, it's like an off switch if it's mainly

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<v Speaker 2>a positive polarity for the storm. And so it just

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<v Speaker 2>was really doing things. So you did need to be

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<v Speaker 2>out out of the city to actually be able to

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<v Speaker 2>see it any great detail, particularly with the camera.

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<v Speaker 1>Tell me what that means that what's the polarity argument.

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<v Speaker 2>So there's an embedded in the solar storm. There is

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<v Speaker 2>an up down magnetic field direction and we call it

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<v Speaker 2>BZ and we track that, and it's one of the

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<v Speaker 2>most important tools we use to see whether it's worth

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<v Speaker 2>actually going out. So a negative BZ meaning south, is

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<v Speaker 2>more like an on switch for the aurora, where a

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<v Speaker 2>positive is like an off switch. So it's just not

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<v Speaker 2>the atmosphere wasn't charging up. So what happens is you

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<v Speaker 2>had a solar storm sent from the Sun about eight

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<v Speaker 2>am on the thirty first of May our time, and

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<v Speaker 2>it took about a day and a half to get here.

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<v Speaker 2>So the Earth is also has a strong magnetic field

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<v Speaker 2>that protects us. And so if anyone's ever done that

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<v Speaker 2>high school experiment where you get the bar magnet and

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<v Speaker 2>you dip the iron, you get pour iron filings over it,

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<v Speaker 2>you see the magnetic field lines. Yep, that's what's protecting us.

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<v Speaker 2>So that our magnetic field pushes that solar particles around,

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<v Speaker 2>deflex it, but some of it comes back along the

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<v Speaker 2>magnetic field lines and then hits the atmosphere and the

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<v Speaker 2>actual solar particles interacting with the oxygen and nitrogen particles

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<v Speaker 2>causes those particles to glow like a neon sign. And

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<v Speaker 2>that's what we're seeing, all right.

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<v Speaker 1>And madam just looking while I'm talking to just looking

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<v Speaker 1>at some of the reports around Australia and New South Wales,

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<v Speaker 1>Tazzy over here in Wa. It was quite quite the

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<v Speaker 1>show last night, wasn't it.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, particularly on the East Coast. It hit here about

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<v Speaker 2>mid afternoon, so it was perfect timing for New Zealand

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<v Speaker 2>and for the East Coast, and that initial brunt was

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<v Speaker 2>actually quite strong, so you get a lot a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of streaks in the images coming from on the from

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<v Speaker 2>New Zealand, then from the East Coast, so by the

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<v Speaker 2>time it got here it was a little bit dull.

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<v Speaker 2>But hey, you know you're not I'm not complaining. I

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<v Speaker 2>drove an hour and a half hours to drive and

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<v Speaker 2>I was sick with a cold and I managed to

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<v Speaker 2>get something, so it would have been a hell of

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<v Speaker 2>a sad trip back if I didn't get well.

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<v Speaker 1>Mate, Hey, matare they your private photos?

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<v Speaker 2>Are they?

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<v Speaker 1>Or there's the observatory own them?

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<v Speaker 2>So they're my photos that I share them with the

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<v Speaker 2>observatory because I took it with the observatory camera.

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<v Speaker 1>So yeah, I just wondered if we can both Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I might see if we can let our just listen

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<v Speaker 1>to scene, if that's okay. I might see if our

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<v Speaker 1>people can talk to your people on that.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And it's one of those things that you know,

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<v Speaker 2>you guys, people can go out and see this themselves.

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<v Speaker 2>There's really good apps out there where you can keep

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<v Speaker 2>an eye like the Glendale Aurora app is really good

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<v Speaker 2>to look at, especially if you want to learn this.

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<v Speaker 2>You know it will tell you. It has a little

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<v Speaker 2>help functions each on each of the little graphs, but

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<v Speaker 2>you can keep an eye on like this. Really good

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<v Speaker 2>Facebook pages as well. There's like the Aurora Australa's West

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<v Speaker 2>Australia page which you can join. Also pac Man Space

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<v Speaker 2>where there's really good I always just double check my

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<v Speaker 2>information as well as checking of course, there's the bombs

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<v Speaker 2>Aurora page and also Noah in America will give you

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<v Speaker 2>a really good data as well. And it's one of

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<v Speaker 2>those things it's just persistence. You just got to go

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<v Speaker 2>out and you will get rewarded in the end. I

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<v Speaker 2>remember the October when I went out five nights in

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<v Speaker 2>a row because the we just kept on being hit

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<v Speaker 2>by a solar storm. But unfortunately that polarity just was

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<v Speaker 2>not the right way and it was the sixth day

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<v Speaker 2>where I wasn't actually going to be hanging around. I

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<v Speaker 2>was late at work doing reports and it just happened

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<v Speaker 2>to just change, and all of a sudden we got

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<v Speaker 2>an absolutely magical display that you know I'll never forget.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, all right, mat, good to talk to you as always,

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for chatting to our listeners, and I'll put you

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<v Speaker 1>back to Ann and Linz and see if we can

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<v Speaker 1>grab a version or at least grab a link to

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<v Speaker 1>where people can go and see your shots from last night.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks mate, Yeah, Norris