A rare celestial event is on the horizon, although its visibility will vary across different states, and there’s a possibility it might not occur at all.
Yesterday, a significant solar flare erupted from the sun, propelling a coronal mass ejection (CME) towards Earth at high speeds.
In November 2025, Banks experienced the southern lights, or aurora australis, from Brighton in Melbourne during a similar event.
She encouraged Australians to seize the opportunity to witness the spectacle again tonight. “There’s never a bad time to gaze at the night sky, but tonight is particularly special,” she noted.
Addressing concerns about potential adverse effects from the ongoing geomagnetic storm, Banks reassured that the likelihood of encountering issues is minimal.
As for whether Aussies should be worried about negative impacts from the ongoing geomagnetic storm, Banks said the risks of something going wrong are low.
“Satellites that are higher up in orbit around the Earth may get affected by this solar activity,” she said.
“And we do need to put in protective measures to help our uh power grids to not surge from all this activity if we do have [a major event].”
Otherwise, her advice to everyone in the southern parts of Australia is to get the binoculars and train them on the sky tonight.
