[Image: Yash Soorma / Wikimedia Commons]
A jaw-dropping celestial event usually reserved for Antarctica might be ablaze across South African skies: the Aurora Australis, aka the Southern Lights.
Thanks to an unusually ferocious geomagnetic storm, this surreal spectacle might stretch far beyond its usual polar haunts – possibly lighting up everything from Cape Town’s coast to the plains of Limpopo. All it will take is a clear night and a break in the clouds.
Normally, you’d have to brave the chill of Antarctica or venture to the southern tip of Chile or Tasmania to glimpse the Southern Lights. But this week, the Sun decided to crank things up, unleashing a rare solar storm so strong it’s bending the rules and pushing the aurora deep into unfamiliar territory.
This is thanks to a monster solar flare and a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) hurtling straight toward Earth, one of five major eruptions in just a few days. If the forecasts hold, we could soon see ribbons of neon green, violet and blood-red rippling across our skies.
This storm – due 1 June 2025 from 21:00 – Wednesday 3 June 04:00 – is no slouch. It’s on par with the freaky red skies that stunned the world back in May and October 2024.
According to the ‘We Are South Africans’ Facebook page, this is cosmic fireworks at its finest, charged particles from the Sun slamming into Earth’s magnetic field, throwing a psychedelic light show across the heavens.
Want a front-row seat? Ditch the city lights, head somewhere dark and open, and keep your eyes locked on the southern horizon. And don’t sleep on this – it’s not every day the universe throws a rave over South Africa.
Stay tuned to space weather updates, the sky’s about to get wild.
[Source: IOL]
