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BOOTES-6 Telescope Station captures rare southern lights and advances UFS space research

05 November 2024 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

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

Getting out of the dark

2015-04-28

Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

Since 2008, the University of the Free State has been busy with the planning and implementation of projects to reduce the impact of load shedding. To date, the cost of these projects has run to R6 million. They have been done primarily to ensure that the academic programme does not suffer damage as a result of the increasing interruptions in the power supply that are continuing this year.

The university’s greatest concern has been the provision of emergency power to the lecture halls and laboratories.

Thus far, 35 generators are servicing 55 buildings on the three campuses of the UFS. This includes 26 generators on the Bloemfontein Campus, eight on the Qwaqwa Campus in the Eastern Free State, and one generator on the South Campus in Bloemfontein. The generators are already in service, and are maintained in working order.

Since 2010, the university has also ensured that all newly-built academic buildings are equipped with emergency power supplies.

On the South Campus in Bloemfontein, the new lecture-hall building and the computer laboratory are equipped with emergency power, while the installation of emergency generators in other buildings is under way. The majority of the buildings on the Qwaqwa Campus in the Eastern Free State are equipped with emergency power supplies.

In the meantime, the UFS management has approved a further R11 million for the installation of additional generators on the three campuses. A further R1.5 million has also been approved for the purchase of two mobile generators.

To extend the work already done, the main task will be the installation of more generators on the Bloemfontein Campus to ensure that lecture halls with emergency power will be available for the centrally-arranged timetables, and to ensure that more of the critical laboratories will be provided with emergency power.

There are still some important buildings and halls on the Bloemfontein Campus that must be supplied with emergency power. However, it is a costly process and must be brought into operation gradually. The further implementation of emergency power depends on the delivery of equipment. The university is also investigating alternative solutions for power provisioning, including solar power.

Generators with spare capacity are optimally deployed to satisfy the lower needs of the campus, including the Odeion, the ANNEX at Microbiology, the Stabilis ANNEX, the Agriculture Building, the UV-Sasol library, and the Francois Retief Building.

In addition, the UFS is busy on all campuses, coupling area lighting, including

street lights and pedestrian walkways, to existing generators. Procedures for the operation of mechanical equipment, such as entrance gates, lifts, and so on, are currently being dealt with on all campuses. Continuous power sources for certain ICT equipment will be installed on all campuses to protect it against power surges.

Staff and students can also equip themselves with the necessary knowledge to manage load shedding in their specific areas of work and study. It is always helpful to know who to contact. The following list with guidelines and contact numbers has been compiled to assist you:

1. In an emergency, call Protection Services. This line will continue to operate, regardless of whether the power is on or off.
2. Avoid using lifts just before planned load shedding. Some lifts have emergency power packs which will bring the lift to the nearest floor and open the doors. If you still get stuck in a lift during a power outage, use your cellphone to call Protection Services. While you're waiting, stay calm and be patient.
3. If the access control systems in your building stop working after load shedding, contact Protection Services.
4. The students and staff members who are most at risk during load shedding are those in wheelchairs or with other mobility limitations. As far as possible, plan ahead to avoid being stuck on a floor or in a room that is difficult to access when load shedding is imminent. Please contact Protection Services if you need assistance.
5. During a fire, alarms WILL go off. Alarms are not power driven, but battery driven. For assistance, contact Protection Services.
6. The main UFS Switchboard (Bloemfontein Campus +27(0)51 401 9111 and Qwaqwa Campus +27(0)58 718 5000) will continue to operate during load shedding.

Contact details of Protection Services:

Bloemfontein Campus: +27(0)51 401 2634/2911
Qwaqwa Campus: +27(0)58 508 5460/5175
South Campus: +27(0)51 5051217

Communication and Brand Management will make information available on the UFS web, Facebook page, Twitter, Blackboard and the intranet. Get the load shedding schedule from Eskom’s webpage (http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za/). The Bloemfontein Campus falls in group 4 and the South Campus falls in group 2 in Centlec’s load shedding schedule.

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