Aurora Australis and the Radar dome
Moving on, now the south island of New Zealand. Here I visited the NIWA atmospheric and meteorological station. It’s located far away from big cities, just a kilometer north from the sign of small village Lauder. The station is focused on lot of measurement, especially of ozone layer. Actually in the previous century, when it was built, the main program was observing the auroras. What a wonderful coincidence the minor magnetic storm brought on 19th September 2014 a weak CME impact and also the auroras too! So here is the view from NIWA radar, illuminated by strong green lidar behind me (detecting the stratospheric changes), southern Milky way and the weak but colorful aurora above the horizon. I was so happy, this is actually my the first image of aurora ever! Used Canon 6D, Samyang 24 mm, f2.0, ISO 8000, 13×15 s panorama.
Aurora Australis and the dome with BOOTES telescope
Not only the atmospheric measurement is doing in this station. Right on the image is brand new dome hiding another BOOTES telescope, which will detect abnormally strong Gamma Ray Burst newly from here, New Zealand. The telescope is operated automatically as others BOOTES telescopes, which are part of the project of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía CSIC. New telescope, new hope… For this image was used Canon 6D, Samyang 24 mm, f2.0, ISO 8000, 7×15 s panorama.
