Local storm chaser Géne Morrison, known online as Storm Jagter VTX, managed to capture the southern lights that pulsed over parts of South Africa on Thursday, 10 October, between 11:30 and 03:00.
“I am the local storm chaser here in the Goldfields, but the storm-chasing community is widely spread across South Africa,” says Morrison.
He describes how the show started with a faint, soft pink tint in the sky.
“The inexperienced eye would not be able to see it straight away. With the moonset at 01:30, the moon turned into one of the darkest red supermoons, something out of science fiction.
“Once the lunar light pollution had disappeared, the show of red and pink started to dance with one another, and gradually the pink faded away and the red overpowered the entire atmosphere.”
At about 02:30 the abyss of heaven turned into a vivid beam of light, pulsing and intensifying the red aurora brighter than moonlight itself would. Green patches started to appear.
“I was, unfortunately, not able to capture them. However, they did manifest with the green tint in the clouds.”
At about 03:00 he packed up his gear.
“As I approached Welkom, the heavens still pulsed red.
“Having the opportunity to capture this was truly priceless,” says Morrison.
