Aurora australis: southern lights ignite the sky across Australia after solar storm – video

Aurora australis lit up skies across southern Australia days after four coronal mass ejections from the sun. While much of New South Wales missed out on the spectacle due to heavy cloud and rain, the light show was bigger than anything seen in Australia in decades. Geomagnetic solar storms occur when highly charged plasma erupts from the sun and is streamed into space. When those charged particles, known as the solar wind, hit the Earth's magnetic field, they create the stunning visual displays known as auroras

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• Spectacular southern lights seen across Australia after extreme' solar storm