A phenomenon called Aurora Australis, or Northern Lights, has been taking place the last few days. The lights have been seen from Tasmania to Australia.
You may have heard the term Aurora Borealis or northern lights, which are usually only visible in places like Alaska, Iceland, northern Europe, and Canada. So, what is the Aurora Australis? Here’s an explanation from The Sydney Morning Herald:
“Aurora Australis, a rare disturbance in the earth’s magnetic field, has been projecting light-shows on skies across Australia’s south-east over the past two mornings.
The flashes are caused by solar flares colliding with energy particles in the earth’s magnetic field.
Particles that originate from the sun strike the upper atmosphere, around 100 to 200 kilometres above the earth. The collisions cause neutral atoms to “fluoresce” including in the more common aurora colours red and green.
The rare alignment of magnetic fields and the sun, is likely caused by the earth’s emerging from the peak of its 11-year solar weather cycle, which was leading to increased instances of Aurora Australis.
The video above is a timelapse video of the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) over Sydney’s Northern Beaches from June 23rd at 5am from Bilgola Beach, New South Wales.
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