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05 November 2024 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
BOOTES-6 telescope station
The BOOTES-6 telescope station captured a South African sighting of the southern lights, a rare atmospheric phenomenon powered by solar activity.

The northern lights, with their vibrant displays of green, pink, and violet hues, have become a famous attraction in Nordic countries. But in early October, a rare sighting of the southern lights – or aurora australis – was reported in South Africa, surprising many.

Prof Pieter Meintjes, Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of the Free State (UFS), explains that both the northern and southern lights are the result of charged particles from coronal mass ejections (CMEs) on the sun, which are captured by Earth’s magnetic field. "The interaction between magnetic fields and charged particles, such as protons and electrons, is very interesting. The magnetic field forces these particles to spiral around the field lines, ultimately guiding them towards the magnetic poles. As these particles enter Earth’s atmosphere, they collide with atmospheric atoms, causing a beautiful glow. The colours of the aurora indicate which atoms are involved. Typically, hydrogen shines red, while oxygen and nitrogen produce a greenish-blue tinge," he says.

Observing the southern lights

When the display occurs above the northern magnetic pole, it is called the aurora borealis (northern lights) and can typically be observed over regions such as Alaska, Greenland, and the Nordic countries. Above the southern magnetic pole, it is known as aurora australis (southern lights), usually visible over places such as Antarctica and New Zealand. “In extreme cases – when gigantic mass ejections occurred – it can also be observed in mid-latitudes such as South Africa,” says Prof Meintjes.

This recent and rare South African sighting was also captured by the BOOTES-6 telescope station at Boyden Observatory, located just outside Bloemfontein. According to Prof Meintjes, the telescope station has an all-sky monitor – a camera constantly watching the sky for changes and monitoring, among others, cloud cover to ensure that the telescope is always safe from weather. While the monitor was taking photos of the night sky, Prof Alberto Castro-Tirado, a research professor at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Spain, picked up the aurora.

The Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Spain, in collaboration with the University College Dublin (UCD), is partnering with the UFS in a research-driven initiative involving the BOOTES-6 telescope station, installed in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under a Memorandum of Understanding that was recently renewed for another five years, the UFS and UCD share approximately 30% of the telescope's observing time dedicated to UFS research.

“The DPRT telescope (Dolores Pérez-Ramírez telescope), named after a Spanish astronomer and lecturer at the University of Jaén, contributes significantly to our research, with publications resulting from contributions made by the telescope station and collaborators on gamma-ray bursts, occultations, and transient events co-authored by me and a colleague in the department, Dr Hendrik van Heerden,” notes Prof Meintjes.

Research-driven initiatives

Data from the telescope station is also used for their in-house projects and contributes significantly to the work of their PhD students that will be submitted in the next few years. This includes the PhD work of Helene Szegedi, who uses data from the BOOTES-6 telescope station to study cataclysmic variable systems – compact binaries that erupt regularly. Another PhD student, Joleen Barnard, studies blazar variability under the guidance of Prof Brian van Soelen. Blazars, explains Prof Meintjes, are the core of distant galaxies powered by supermassive black holes. These cosmic jets are pointed towards Earth, but fortunately, they are millions or billions of light years away; otherwise, their impact would be devastating to life on Earth.

News Archive

Support our FNB Shimlas as they play against the NWU Pukke
2011-02-16

 
Jamba Olengu in action.
Photo: Van Zyl Naudè

On Monday, 7 March 2011 Steinhoff International will be presenting the last Varsity Cup match for the season on Xerox Shimla Park, as the FNB Shimlas take on the NWU Pukke. Do not miss this mini intervarsity! The Shimlas need your support.

The match, which starts at 19:00, will be preceded by matches between the FNB UFS U.19 vs. the NWU u.19 (15:00), and the FNB UFS u.21 vs. the NWU u.21 (16:30). So, take your seat early and also watch as, for the first time during a Varsity Cup match in Bloemfontein, parachuters will land on Xerox Shimla Park. Look out for this sight between 18:30 and 19:00.
 
Let us arrive in our numbers and make it a record breaking crowd to support our FNB Shimlas. Big prizes are once again at stake. Carling Black Label is giving away two Apple iPods. Tickets will be sold at the gate and will put you in the draw for one of these incredible prizes.
 
Campus residences and associations who rocks up in the biggest numbers, is the most visible and who is making the loudest noise stand a chance to win a six month DSTV subscription.
 
Tickets will be sold for R10, fifty percent less than the normal price.

The normal price is R20 per ticket, but a limited number of tickets will be sold at R10 per ticket for students who do not have a royal blue supporter shirt on. These tickets are available from the south ticket office at Xerox Shimla Park. They will be sold on a “first come first served” basis. Once the tickets have been sold out, the normal price of R20 would apply once again. So be at the field early and save R10 on your ticket.

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