Aurora Australis: Where, how, what time to see & capture rare southern lights across WA skies on Friday

A rare phenomenon is set to light up WA’s skies in ethereal shades of violet, teal and electric green on Friday, with residents set to witness the Aurora Australis.

According to The Bureau of Meteorology’s space weather forecasting centre, a geomagnetic storm has set the stage for potential Southern Lights displays across large parts of Australia – including Western Australia’s southern fringe.

The Aurora Australis is caused when a cloud of charged solar material produced by the sun travels towards Earth.

While it doesn’t necessarily cause the sky to turn a different colour entirely it does result in a faint glow visible on the horizon, with stronger geomagnetic activity able to project more obvious greens, pinks and purples colours across the skies.

Astronomer Matt Woods explained to PerthNow that it was rare for the natural phenomenon to be seen in 2026.

“The sun has an 11-year cycle and it’s a lot more active at the end of that cycle which was around 2024–25,” he began.

“Now that we’re at the beginning of the cycle we should expect to see less activity, making auroras less common.”

Whether a seasoned aurora chaser or just hoping to catch your very first cosmic light show, this arrival of the New Moon means there will be pitch-black night skies and zero moonlight pollution competing with the faint atmospheric glow.

The aurora can’t be seen during the day, so even if the geomagnetic storm arrives earlier in the day, you’ll need to wait between 75 to 90 minutes after sunset.

Based on sunset times for October 9, that’s approximately 6:23pm AWST in Perth.

Hopeful observers should keep in mind that auroras don’t glow constantly but instead roll through in bursts that last between 10 to 15 minutes each throughout the night.

Mr Woods continued: “It does have to be a decent-sized storm for us to be able to see it, and usually here in Perth, you have to get away from the city lights, so you’ll need to go out to the central Wheatbelt or down past Mandurah to be able to see it.

“Esperance and Albany will be the best places to see it in WA tonight.

“But as I always say – auroras, meteor showers and comets are all like cats — only they know what they’ll do. Persistence is the key.”

If you’re fortunate enough to see the skies light up and want to capture the moment on your mobile device, there are a few things you can do to try and get the right shot.

“Set your iPhone or Android camera to night mode with an exposure time between 10 and 20 seconds and be sure to rest your phone against a tripod, rock or car roof to prevent any blurring from movement.”

For the best chance to see the Aurora Australis:

• Get away from city lights — stretches of beach and open fields work well
• Face towards the southern horizon
• Avoid looking at any bright phone screens while waiting to see it

Here is a full list of sunset times across part of Australia for October 9:

• Albany: 6:17pm AWST
• Esperance: 6:00pm AWST
• Perth: 6:23pm AWST
• Sydney: 7:03pmAEDT
• Melbourne: 7:31pm AEDT
• Canberra: 7:12pm AEDT
• Hobart: 7:26pm AEDT
• Adelaide: 7:24pm ACDT