Aurora Australis seen from Tristan
Report and photos from Tristan Enviroearth Station Manager Odile Cesari
View from outside Odile's house
View from the Potato Patches later in the evening
Odile's Report
I took these two pictures of the Aurora Australis on 20th January 2026.
Before coming to Tristan, I lived in Iceland and in Canada, where my friends and I used to go aurora-hunting. Being my nostalgic self, I never deleted my aurora app, and on that evening in January, it sent me some alerts: "KP index is becoming high. Keep an eye on the sky."
Being quite far from the South Pole and living against the North flank of a huge volcano, I thought my chances were low, but that perhaps with a lot of luck, the red/purple glow of distant Southern Lights could be seen around the mountain. Well, the pictures speak for themselves! Although I can't say it was this bright and colourful in real life, I could not really see much of a warm glow with my bare eyes, the phone picked it up, and I edited the pictures slightly to make it stand out more.
That first picture was taken close to my guesthouse's gate (I am staying in Gaetano's Lodge!). As soon as I spotted a little bit of red on there, I got excited. I knew I had to get a clearer view south, and to get away from lights, so I immediately drove out to the Patches. But sadly, in the ten minutes it took to get there, the aurora activity had already started to decrease. The red glow faded away in a few minutes, after which my photos were back to a gorgeous but regular black and white night sky. I gave it half an hour to see if the lights would return, but the clouds took over the sky, as if to draw the curtains on a show that had ended, but that I was still happy to have witnessed.
About the January 2026 Solar Storm
These images were taken during a significant solar event in January 2026. It was caused by an X-class solar flare on Jan 18th, that sent a colossal, fast-moving CME (coronal mass ejection) directly toward Earth. This triggered a severe G4 geomagnetic storm, allowing auroras to be visible at an unusual distance from the poles. For context, G4 is the second-highest level a geomagnetic storm can reach. Under these conditions, solar radiation can cause temporary radio blackouts, disrupt or damage orbiting spacecraft and impact some ground-based infrastructure. In preparation for the storm, power grid operators reduced loads and activated protective systems, satellites were put into safe mode, airlines rerouted away from polar flight paths. The flare ionized the atmosphere over the Americas, particularly South America, causing some shortwave radio blackouts, and disturbed some GPS systems, but aside from that, didn't cause any damage.
A simultaneous S4 solar radiation storm occurred, a significantly rarer and less understood phenomenon. NOAA's GOES-19 satellite tracked an intense surge of high energy protons accelerating from the sun at speeds far above the typical solar wind. Those particles reached Earth in under 24 hours; most solar weather events take three to four days to cover the same distance. It ranked as the third most intense radiation storm in the 50 years of the GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) programme's measurements, and it was the strongest event observed since October 2003.
The Earth's atmosphere absorbs most of the solar radiation, which is why people on the ground face no direct risk. But astronauts in low Earth orbit don't have that protection, so the ISS crew had to take shelter in heavily shielded modules, as a precaution against elevated radiation exposure.
A Rare Observation
It was a combination of factors that allowed this sighting: the Sun still being close to its activity cycle's peak, the sky being mostly clear of clouds, the absence of a bright moon that would have washed out other light sources in the sky, particularly faint ones such as those Auroras. And of course, a fair amount of luck.
It is a good reminder that even in unlikely places, it's worth keeping an eye on the sky.
For those interested, the app Odile used is called My Aurora Forecast & Alerts (on iPhone), but there are several other apps out there offering the same features.
Background to the Southern Lights
The Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights, is a natural light display in the Southern Hemisphere caused by solar particles colliding with Earth's magnetic field. It is the exact same phenomenon as the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), but it is less photographed, as it occurs mostly over oceans and Antarctica, with relatively few nearby landmasses, and far fewer populated areas.
Primarily visible from Antarctica, Tasmania, New Zealand, and southern South America, Aurora Australis appears as colourful, dancing lights, usually from March to September. Peak activity occurs during solar maximums, one of which we just passed in 2025. The solar cycle length is impossible to predict, but it seems to average at 11 years, so we could expect the next solar maximum to be reached around 2036.