Aurora Australis

An aurora alert issued by the Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre said the storm — a major disturbance of Earth's magnetosphere caused by a solar wind ...

An aurora is a visual phenomenon where bright lights shimmer across the night sky. Nitrogen glows blue and purple.” Oxygen gives off green and red light.

A coronal hole on the surface of the sun, roughly the size of earth, is set to create geomagnetic storms allowing Australians to get a glimpse of the ...

That means coastal areas of southern Victoria, southern Western Australia and Tasmania will have the best views, and those in high-altitude areas may also see the aurora on the horizon. The southern lights, known formally as aurora australis, is the southern counterpart to the northern aurora borealis, and are natural polar light displays caused by disturbances in the earth’s magnetosphere by solar winds. A coronal hole on the surface of the sun, roughly the size of earth, is set to create geomagnetic storms allowing Australians to get a glimpse of the southern lights.

An enormous coronal hole opening on the sun, sending charged particles to Earth, will potentially cause auroras – and a range of technical issues.

All that energy and those streams of particles mean auroras closer to the equator are possible. “The magnetic field that covers the sun is usually in an arc-like structure … At G2 and G3, the centre says, “aurora sightings from dark sky locations in southern Australia are very likely, including Tasmania and southern Victoria”. The activity reached G3 globally and G2 in Australia, although a G3 storm level is “possible”, according to the centre. [In 1989](https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/sun_darkness.html), a solar storm sent satellites tumbling from orbit and plunged the entire province of Quebec, Canada, into darkness. This can mean anything from interfering with satellites in orbit around the Earth, down to affecting power lines on the surface.

Auroras have set Riverina skies ablaze once again with incredible displays captured from Lockhart. Pictures by Emmily Meyers and Jypsie Cronan (Glen-Lea ...

Originally from South Australia, Andrew Mangelsdorf grew up in Victoria before launching his career in Temora, NSW. He also served as a journalist at Lake Cargelligo before making the move to The Daily Advertiser in 2022. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

A large coronal hole that has "opened" on the Sun's surface is expected to cause large geomagnetic storms that can affect the operation of communications ...

The fast solar wind emanating from coronal holes can affect Earth’s magnetic field and cause auroras and other space weather phenomena. https://7news.com.au/technology/massive-solar-storm-due-to-hit-earth-sparking-geomagnetic-storm-c-10138177 BOM: Massive Solar Storm To Hit Earth, Aurora Australis Forecast Tonight BOM: Massive Solar Storm To Hit Earth, Aurora Australis Forecast Tonight