Aurora Australis

Have you ever witnessed nature's light show dancing across the night sky? This colourful display is often referred to, and known as, the Southern lights. What causes this spectacular illumination, Aurora Australis?

The first thing that triggers an Aurora Australis is a solar flare. A solar flare is a gas wave that comes off the sun. There is another type of solar flare, it is  called a corona. The corona is a gigantic cloud of electrons, ions and atoms.

Earth has a magnetic field, the magnetic field acts like an invisible shield around the Earth. When all the atoms, ions and electrons hit the magnetic field they follow the path of the invisible shield and are guided to the North and South poles.

Ions accelerate after they hit the magnetic field and collide with other particles, they then release energy in the form of light.

The Aurora Australis is a beautiful thing to see. You can see the Aurora Australis at night at the South Pole.