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A COMBINATION of uninterrupted horizon views, little light pollution and the possibility of fast internet made Kiama the location of choice for two local astronomy enthusiasts to see last week's Aurora Australis.
Live streaming and photos taken in Kiama Heights by Wollongong's David Finlay and Kiama's Rudi Vavre were shared widely on social media on Tuesday, capturing the imagination of skygazers around the country and the world .
Mr Finlay said while their efforts to tap into NBN WiFi close to their Marsden Reserve vantage point were unsuccessful on Tuesday, they streamed the lightshow and shared it later to great interest.
The aurora was predicted to be seen anytime from Monday evening until the early hours of Tuesday. The 45-minute lightshow began about 5am. The pair's long wait was rewarded with the brightest and most spectacular aurora either had seen.
The aurora's most common red and green glow and flashes are caused by solar flares colliding with energy particles in the earth's magnetic field and are known as space weather.
Aurora Australis is typically most visible between southern Victoria and Tasmania.
The duo said Marsden Reserve had proven a perfect vantage point because of its clear views south to the horizon and because Kiama has relatively minimal light pollution.
"I would not be surprised if Marsden Reserve becomes an astronomy hotspot," Mr Finlay said.
Mr Vavra was delighted with the display put on in his own backyard considering a trip to Tasmania to see the aurora was a flop.
"We went to Tassie for the shortest day and the longest night thinking 'what are the chances we won't see anything?' Pretty good as it turned out." he laughed.
"This one was surreal - as has been the media interest since but so it should, it's free and it's awesome."
Mr Vavra said he had seen about a dozen auroras throughout his astronomy career and that catching them required dedication and patience.
"Space weather is like weather on earth," he said. "You do have an educated guess but ... if the weather bureau says there's a 10 per cent chance of rain, that's still 10 per cent. Sometimes it rains and sometimes it doesn't.
"This is the same - sometimes these things don't arrive. Sometimes they just miss us or fizzle out before they get to us. It's space weather but it's still weather."
Mr Finlay said while many people were familiar with the northern hemisphere's Aurora Borealis the southern lightshow was just as spectacular.
"The difference with Aurora Borealis is that it's close to the north pole and there's a lot more land there which people live on, so they get seen more frequently," he said."This was my about my 20th aurora, so that's two, on average, for my 12 years and this was definitely the biggest and most intense I have seen."