A Bucket List Experience
Seeing the Aurora has been on my bucket list for some years.
There are two auroras, the Aurora Borealis, known as the Northern Lights, in the Northern Hemisphere, and the Aurora Australis in the Southern Hemisphere. It is now very common for people to see the Aurora Borealis when they visit countries near the Arctic Circle, as the Earth’s magnetic field attracts the solar flares that create this beautiful natural phenomenon. There are many countries in the Northern Hemisphere that are close to the North Pole – from those in Scandinavia, to Russia, Canada, Iceland and Greenland, so the auroras are more visible there.
Here in the Southern Hemisphere, it is rare and very difficult to see with the naked eye. We are very far from Antarctica and the South Pole, so solar flares must be very strong to be seen in Australia, New Zealand, Chile and South Africa. That is why, when there was a notice on 20 January 2026 that there was a large solar flare and the possibility of seeing the Aurora Australis that night was close to home, my husband and I decided to drive 1.5 hours south from the bright lights of Melbourne to Cape Schank on the south coast of the Australian continent to see it.
Aurora Australis 20 January 2026 from Cape Schank Victoria © Imogen Lamport
Because we are still thousands of kilometers away from the lights, unlike the dance on the surface, which is visible to the naked eye in places near the magnetic poles, you don’t get those amazing dancing waves that you can see (like in the video below, with a great explanation of the science of the lights).
But the interesting thing is that if you just turn on your camera (night mode), you can see the aurora through it. Why is this? Well, it has to do with lumps and bumps in our eyes.
The cones are the color receptors in our eyes, and the rods are the light receptors. Unfortunately, our binoculars don’t work well in low light, and you can only see the aurora when it’s dark (and after sunset, with little or no moon) and there aren’t too many clouds obscuring the southern horizon. Rods, which help us see in the dark, do not have color receptors.
Our color-detecting lobes can see the faint blue light on the horizon and faint rays of light rising into the sky (these are known as rays or ribbons), but miss the reds, pinks, and purples seen in auroras.
The moment you look at your camera, you start seeing colors. And it’s beautiful.
As the light faded after the ocean sunset, the first flashes of the aurora appeared. Photo © Imogen Lamport
I still long to see the Aurora Borealis in or near the Arctic Circle, where you get to watch the lights dance in a way you just don’t get if you live too far from the action. But I am glad that I saw a beautiful lady dancing in the sky.
So what does this have to do with human color analysis?
That’s why I can’t make an accurate analysis at night or even in the evening. That’s why I do them all during the day – 9.30am – 3pm ideally, as that’s when the daylight is strongest so the colors show up at their brightest.
That’s why I have a lot of windows (and skylights) in my studio, as I need really good light to do accurate human color analysis. And on a cloudy day, I turn on my headlights that emit daylight.
That’s why, even if I analyze online, I only do it during the brightest part of the day: if I compare the clock with the image on my computer screen, it should be as bright as the image I’m comparing it to. The minute the room starts to get dull, I won’t get an accurate result.
What does it mean to you when you choose what colors to wear?
During the day, when our brains are firing, color has the greatest impact. This is where the colors you wear make a big difference in your appearance, as they reflect their full intensity on your skin.
At night, when there is less light, you can get away with brighter colors than would suit you during the day, as our bulbs can pick up the same energy as they would if the light were better.
Find Your Best Colors
It’s time to stop wasting time, energy and money when you buy all the wrong colors and quickly zoom in on the ones that make you shine – get your online color analysis here and start decorating a wardrobe that works together easily and simply because they agree with each other and you.
