Des Paroz Micro Thoughts

The Aurora Tree

Just south of Canberra is a famous tree by the side of a country lane just off the Monaro Highway. This tree has a fabulous vantage point looking to the south, providing a great place to observe aurora australis (the Southern Lights) when the conditions are just right.

On this night in June 2024 I had been shooting Milky Way imagery at Mulligans Flat in Canberra’s north, and as I was packing up I was getting quite a lot of aurora alerts, so on the spur of the moment I made the call to drive 45 minutes south to the Aurora tree. I had the site to myself, and I was treated to quite a show. Not only did I capture the wonderful title image, I was able to capture a great timelapse and the below star trail image.

It was a great show, and while I didn’t see the full colours of the aurora with my naked eye, I did see a light show, and the cameras really told the story.

Back around 11–12 May 2024 many hundreds of people set up along the side of this road hoping to see the aurora, despite the terrible weather Canberra experienced that weekend. The aurora pretty much a bust for us, although I did get one so-so image of a good green flash of aurora (see bottom of this post).

The place was crowded those nights, and you had to be really careful with so many people and cars around. Worse still, many left a lot of rubbish behind, and if it wasn’t for some photographers who took the initiative to go back and clean up, the mess would have been left for the local community.

View this image in my Photo Gallery.