On the night of 1 June 2025, I stood beneath a sky transformed by one of the strongest geomagnetic storms of Solar Cycle 25. This photograph, taken near Middlemarch, captures the rare “RAGDA” aurora—an intense display where crimson oxygen emissions tower above emerald green bands. For a few unforgettable minutes, the entire southern sky rippled with vertical rays and layered curtains, evidence that the auroral oval had expanded northward over Otago. The image records not only the grandeur of that cosmic disturbance but also a moment when space weather briefly reached into New Zealand’s heartland, turning the night itself into a work of celestial art.
