Skywatchers across New Zealand turned to social media to share their photographs, captured from locations including Dunedin, Waihola Lake, Roxburgh, Cromwell and Mount Cook.
Te Whatu Stardome astronomer Josh Aoraki spoke to RNZ in October about the phenomenon, noting that cameras could often pick up the aurora even when it remained invisible to the naked eye.
"We're currently in a pretty high activity period with our sun, and the aurora is a direct result of solar activity interacting with the Earth's magnetic field," he said.
Heading south to areas such as Twizel, Southland and Otago gave observers the best views, with darker spots away from light pollution offering the clearest sightings. Aoraki noted that predicting how bright the aurora would be at any given time was notoriously difficult, though those wanting to stay informed could monitor the space weather forecast through the NOAA website.
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Meanwhile, Transpower moved to lift the grid emergency declared on Wednesday afternoon after the G4 geomagnetic storm driving the aurora display reduced in severity. South Island electricity transmission lines, taken offline as a precaution to prevent damage to equipment, were returned to service. Consumers experienced no impact on their electricity supply throughout the event.
Transpower confirmed that taking this kind of protective action was standard whenever space weather reached a particular level. The procedures had been developed over several years in collaboration with the University of Otago, international space agencies, and others in the electricity industry.
Although New Zealand was well prepared for geomagnetic storms, Transpower used the occasion to remind New Zealanders of the importance of being ready for a natural disaster or other major event capable of interrupting power supply and damaging other infrastructure. That message came shortly after the National Emergency Management Agency and other affected agencies ran through a test scenario of a solar storm response in the Beehive's bunker, to make sure they were adequately prepared.
