Dark Skies & Capturing Auroras

This week, Capes Conversations looks up ... up at the vast dark skies above us and we have two experts to explain what we’re seeing in the skies and some easy ways you can appreciate the astronomical objects and auroras that we see here in the South West.

Carol Redford, founder of Astrotourism WA and photographer, Aidan Kean shares their knowledge of the dark skies with practical tips to start learning more about our stars and planets, as well as taking photos of the Aurora Australis.

There are some books references on Indigenous Astronomy. Look out for The First Astronomers by Duane Hamacher, Emu Dreaming by Ray and Cilla Norris and First Knowledges: Sky Country by Karlie Noon & Krystal De Napoli. 

To help monitor aurora activity, take a look at some of these resources;

Aurora Australis Facebook Group
SpaceWeather.com
Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre (part of Bureau of Meteorology) 
My Aurora Forecast app 

There's also information on sky gazing in the Margaret River here: Night sky: where to stargaze | The Margaret River Region

@light_to_lens, @astrotourismwa 

Thanks for listening and if you've enjoyed this podcast, please share with your family and friends.

For more inspiration on visiting the Margaret River Region follow @margaretriver on Instagram or explore www.margaretriver.com.

This show was recorded at RMR 101.9FM, Margaret River Region.

Transcript

Kellie Tannock 0:01

Welcome to Cape's Conversations, sharing the stories that make the Margaret River region a truly special place to live and visit. I'm Kelly Tannock, and this week we're looking up, up at the vast dark skies above us, and we have two experts to explain what we're seeing in the skies and some easy ways you can appreciate the astronomical objects and auroras that we see here in the South West. My first guest is Carol Redford. She's the founder of Astro Tourism WA, and she's made it her life's work to make WA the stargazing capital of the world. Welcome, Carol.

Carol Redford 0:34

Oh, thank you very much. Yes, it's a good mission. It's a fun mission, and I think a very important one too.

Kellie Tannock 0:40

Well, firstly, I'd like to pay respects to all First Nations people. The skies are a really important part of their country and storytelling, and uh it's not for me to tell those stories, but we do have some interesting um books that are available if you are interested. Carol, can you sort of fill us in on that?

Carol Redford 0:56

It's an incredible source of knowledge we have above our heads every night. You know, Aboriginal people uh are the world's first astronomers, and not just looking at the sky from a you know a beauty point of view. It actually holds a lot of scientific knowledge about how to care for country, care for the animals and plants, care for the ocean, um, gives us direction. Uh there's so much knowledge um up there. It's uh 60,000 years or more of all of that knowledge. But I think even today, I think we need that more and more as our climate is changing. That wisdom that is held in the stars from um an Aboriginal perspective, very, very important.

Kellie Tannock 1:39

I'm sure we do have a lot to learn. If anyone's interested in some of the books that you can get your hands on to get some more information, we'll pop the uh details in our show notes on the website. Um before we get into the detail, Carol, of what we can see above us. Could you please explain why we're so lucky to see anything here at all?

Carol Redford 1:57

We are so blessed. It and it's all to do with light pollution, really, in essence. Uh it's a global problem about this, you know, increasing amount of light pollution. And it's been increasing by about somewhere between five and ten percent every year. So as our cities get bigger and as we change to LED streetlight technology, uh it's making our stars, our sky brighter so that we can't see the stars. Um but in Western Australia, we have this global competitive or global advantage. Uh Earth is a very isolated capital city. In fact, it's the most isolated capital city on a continent, which means that all of our light pollution, or most of it, is just concentrated in one tiny spot. And then out through our beautiful state, we have small towns, welcoming beautiful town with low population and low levels of light pollution. And we just have access to this amazing amount of data. Uh it's incredible. Um and so in a world that's getting lighter and lighter, I'm hoping that we can make WA darker and darker so that we can really protect that aspect uh for tourism and you know, a number of other things too, like wildlife um at night and our human health as well. So it's very special what we have here in the region. We kind of tend to take it for granted. Um, but please don't. Um all of your regional listeners be proud of what you have above your heads every night. Uh it's a world-class asset and definitely worthwhile uh to protect.

Kellie Tannock 3:34

Well, sounds like we've got just another great reason to feel lucky in this incredible region. Um I've been told that the southern hemisphere in general is quite special for stargazing. So when we look up, what are we seeing here?

Carol Redford 3:46

Oh, it sure is. It is so special. In fact, we're the envy of the northern hemisphere, which is you know quite unusual. Um it's um special because what we see here in the south is the core of our Milky Way galaxy very high above our heads. So um and we have when you so for instance, when you're looking south in our night sky, anything that you're seeing around the southern cross area um and below and just above, it's only visible here in the southern hemisphere. The northern hemisphere uh people cannot see what we do here. And that includes also the Magellanic cloud. So they are two satellite galaxies that are close to our Milky Way galaxy, and they look like two fuzzy, fuzzy um patches in our night sky. They're always there if you're looking to the south, uh around that southern cross area. Uh and then we have that beautiful band of the Milky Way. Uh so in winter time we look towards the centre of our galaxy uh because we just happen to be on the on that side of the sun. Uh we look towards that centre of the galaxy, which is really dense with star. So on a winter tonight, you know, sort of between April and say September, October, at night, you can see that really thick band of stars stretching from horizon to horizon. And that is us looking towards the centre of our galaxy, and we can we can see that band of our galaxy. It's magnificent to see, and there are now two-thirds of the world's population who don't see that.

Kellie Tannock 5:25

Well, you've got me very excited about the sun setting tonight now. So uh I'm Kelly Tanik. I'm chatting with Carol Redford from Astro Tourism WA about the stars and other objects above us. Um, Australia has been blessed with some solar eclipses in recent years, and we had um Xmouth in 2023, and then we've got some other important uh events coming up in Australia. Uh, what will we experience? Can you tell us a bit about those first of all? Then what will we experience from those in the Southwest?

Carol Redford 5:54

Yes, we do. Um, so we had a fantastic experience of the total solar eclipse uh up in Xmouth, and it was an amazing time. Many thousands. Um I think there were about 20,000 people who came from all corners of the globe to be uh in X-Mouth to witness that. Um the next one we've got coming up is just over two years away. Uh it's on the 22nd of July in 2028. And it'll be the total solar request will be visible from the Kimberley area. Uh it also um will be visible across parts of Northern Territory, Southeast Queensland, uh Southwest Queensland, sorry, and also New South Wales. In fact, the whole Sydney will disappear into the shadow of the moon, and that's what we're saying with an eclipse. Um quite remarkable experience. Um you know, and it's quite healthy, you know, that the moon moving towards covering the sun a hundred percent moving towards that. I think that you're going dark. The temperature really dropped, uh, like literally, you know, maybe 10 degrees or so. So it's a very noticeable, very strange effect. Anywhere else in Western Australia will just experience a partial solar eclipse. So the moon won't quite cover the sun. Um, as you get closer up there, it'll be more coverage, but there'll still be some sun um peeking through um behind the moon.

Kellie Tannock 7:28

Absolutely fascinating, Carol. Look, shortly we'll be joined by photographer Aidan Keene, who won a local photography prize for his image of an aurora, which was shot off the Margaret River region coast. Stay with us for more after this 2020 release from an iconic Margaret River group, Beaver Fever. This is Get the Fever.

Speaker 7 8:23

Stop. Going on my way.

Kellie Tannock 12:11

That was Get the Fever from our fabulous local group, Beaver Fever. This is Cape's Conversations, a half-hour spotlight on this wonderful region we call home, and it's proudly sponsored by the Margaret River Bustleton Tourism Association. And this week we're focused on the night skies. But a growing interest in the region is astrophotography. I have Aidan Keane with me. Aidan, you are a professional photographer, and I believe astrophotography became your way to relax.

Aidan Keane 12:39

Yes, so I do a lot of surf videography, and doing that so high pace. It's so adrenaline. The region's renowned for surfing, so it's I love it. But uh yeah, when it comes to astrophotography, it's just me alone. It's in the night sky, it's a complete zen moment for me, and that's what I really appreciate and love about it.

Kellie Tannock 13:00

And the interest in auroras has really taken off in the community as well. So after realizing we can apparently see the Aurora Australas, our southern lights from here, uh, if we have the right equipment. Can you explain why they're so hard to see with just the naked eye?

Aidan Keane 13:14

So they're so hard to see from where we are with the naked eye because of our distance from Antarctica. Like when you go down to the polar regions and it's very beautiful. It's like from the naked eye. It's actually one of the most stunning things you can do. I highly recommend it. We don't really see it with the naked eye because it's just so faint. You can see just the subtle hints of colour on the change, but that's about it. And the reason it's become so prevalent is because how camera technology is a progressing phone, so it's amazing. Like these days go hand in hand with digital professional photography cameras that I use, like SLAs.

Kellie Tannock 13:53

It sounds like almost any of us could do it if we've got uh a decent enough phone. You've captured some really stunning Aurora images, and you actually one of them won the rotary uh directory cover competition for 2025. What equipment do you use to get a great shot? And uh what can others use?

Aidan Keane 14:08

So I use uh the GH5 or GH7 by Panasonic, basically whatever's been provided to me to test at the time. Uh any good single lens, reflex, or mirrorless these days can do the job. They push ISO ranges so high, uh the sensitivity on them's so good, and the noise is barely there in the 32000s like it used to be. So basically just a nice entry-level setup, something maybe a Facebook marketplace, you don't have to spend all the money to get two three thousand dollar technologies in cameras. Honestly, your Samsung phone or iPhone can do the same thing. Yeah, you just put it into Night Shoot and have a button and make sure it's ready, and you can get something starting.

Kellie Tannock 14:52

I guess even if you've got all the gear, the the the key to getting the money shot is being in the right place at the right time. And uh Stargazers Club WA have some suggestions to monitor for Aurora Alerts. We might pop the um details on our um our notes, our show notes on the website. Um but Aurora Australia's Facebook group is spaceweather.com, Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre, which is part of the Bureau of Meteorology, and my Aurora Forecast app. Um are there any uh specific spots that you'd recommend Aidan to get the best vantage point?

Aidan Keane 15:23

Well, south of Margaret River to Augusta is definitely anywhere on that southern region past Red Gate is going to show something beautiful. There's virtually no light pollution. You just see a bit of stunningness come out. Um the real maintain and difficulty in the region we're seeing it is whether there's cloud cover or not. That's the that's the real hard one, but we we can't predict the cloud.

Kellie Tannock 15:47

So Aiden cloud cover is an occasionally an issue down here, and also I believe you've got to be a bit of a night owl.

Aidan Keane 15:52

Oh, of course. Well the cloud cover is a really prevalent issue with taking photos in the night sky, auroras, just the general stargazing, anything. It's because there's so much of it down here and it's really hard to get those things to line up. Also, being a bit of a night owl works, it helps. Like 3 a.m., 4 a.m. is when they're most active, but they're also active in the 8 a.m. regions. It's just about how the flare lines up with the earth, really.

Kellie Tannock 16:21

So I did start as a bit of a hobby, but where are you at with your photographer astrophotography now?

Aidan Keane 16:26

Well, I do sell them. I sell custom prints, basically, you contact me and we get in touch, we sit down, we have a coffee, and we hash something out. A lot of my work is very like one-on-one, so it is a bit pricier, but we adjust stuff to how you need it. You can go on my Instagram, light the lens, and have a flick through. It's mostly waves, but you'll get some photos of some lovely night skies on there as well.

Kellie Tannock 16:50

Can you explain why you think people are so fascinated with the night sky?

Aidan Keane 16:54

Well, I think it's because it's just so prevalent in humanity. Like ever since the dawn of days, we've used it to navigate, we've used it to tell time, we've used it to uh basically live our lives, but it's only a very recent thing. We've had modern lighting that we don't have access to the night sky, how we are used to. Yeah, I think that's why.

Kellie Tannock 17:16

This is Cape's Conversations on Kelly Tannic, and I've been picking the professional brain of Aidan Keene on photographing the Aurora Australis. I'll bring Carol back on the phone with her advice on how to start your astronomy journey because it's as easy as downloading an app, and she'll explain this after the song. This is the talented Mammakin Spender, the duo of Mammakin and Dingo Spender from their 2025 album Promises, and this is Arrows.

Speaker 3 18:11

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Speaker 6 18:23

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Speaker 8 19:18

You say, What you say? But not for me, don't for me the worst all the stones we just single, you don't mean that.

Kellie Tannock 21:34

RMR one oh one point nine That was Mumma Kinspender with Arrows. I'm Kelly Tannock. This is Cape's Conversations, and I have Carol Redford from Astro Tourism WA with me again. Carol, you mainly work with Shires and tourism businesses to introduce stargazing as a visitor experience, but in reality anyone can start learning more about our night sky. Is that right? What's your advice to get started?

Carol Redford 21:56

Oh, absolutely. It's very easy to get started. And in You know, it takes me back to my my time um when I owned and operated a public observatory because I knew nothing about not going with cargoing. And it was increasing going out on a regular basis for you know just for five minutes before I go to sleep to identify a star. And then I can identify the constellation a little bit later. Uh and then start to find out a little bit about her. And so you know at mobile technology we can't find something fantastic. One I love to use is called delirium. That's a free one uh to download. And in the app, there's a little comfort mechanism where you can actually hold the phone up to the sky. Uh it'll move with your movement, and you'll be able to start identifying uh flour and constellation. And then um there are all sorts of other app and uh websites to go to you can start trying to find out when the international content is going over, or maybe learning a few crazy on the lot out there. Uh and you know, mobile technology uh technology just making that a lot easier. But just doing it on a regular basis might be you know it's always locally, you know, after a day at work or you know, a day with the family, you know, to sit out on the back lawn um and uh you know lie down and watch uh the first guard come out after a summer. It's um just a beautiful feeling. Reset to the soul, I think.

Kellie Tannock 23:36

That sounds wonderful to me. Thanks so much to my guests Carol Redford and Aidan Keene, who've been so informative and inspiring today. I can't wait to get out and have a look myself tonight. I'm Kelly Tannock, and this is Kate's Conversation. It's a look at what makes the Margaret River region so wonderful to live in and to visit. And we want to thank our show sponsor, Margaret River, the Basteton Tourism Association. I'm sure we now have a much deeper understanding on how special our night sky is down here, and that we can see it and that we can have some simple ways to learn more about it. So to finish the show, another local group, this time hailing from Dunsborough, this is Saltry with their 2025 single Paradise.

Speaker 9 24:21

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