Aurora australis: technicolour skies glow across Australia and NZ as solar flares trigger southern lights

Observations of spectacular southern lights phenomenon recorded from Tasmania and Melbourne to Western Australia

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The skies above southern Australia and New Zealand glowed in technicolour on Tuesday night as the aurora australis was on full display.

Observations of the spectacular light phenomenon - caused by particles from geomagnetic storms entering the Earth's atmosphere - were recorded from Tasmania and Melbourne to Western Australia and beyond, where onlookers watched bands of green, gold, red and orange transform the evening sky.