southern lights
Polar atmospheric shimmer
The southern lights are luminous bands and curtains of colored light that appear in the night sky near the South Pole, caused by charged particles from the sun interacting with Earth's atmosphere.
Also called aurora australis.
The phenomenon mirrors the northern lights (aurora borealis) visible in Arctic regions: We sailed south hoping to see the southern lights.
- polar lightsAtmospheric luminous phenomenon
- ionosphereCharged upper atmospheric layer
- solar windContinuous stellar particle emission
- aurora australisAntarctic atmospheric light display
- magnetosphereCelestial body's protective field
geomagnetic · aurora · New Zealand · Tasmania · solar flares · charged particles · Falkland Islands · indigenous myths · folklore · phenomenon · shimmer · ethereal · radiance · celestial · night sky · natural wonder · night · glow
- celestial eventssolar eclipse, lunar eclipse, meteor shower, eclipse, supernova
- space phenomenastars, black hole, meteors, wormhole, dark energy
- rare phenomenaanomaly, rarity, oddity, phenomenon, aberration
- space weathersolar wind, solar flares, solar storms, aurora borealis, northern lights
- natural phenomenaaurora, northern lights, eclipse, solar eclipse, lunar eclipse
- Nightmoon, stars, moonlight, starlight, midnight
light, south, southern, southwest, southeast, southward, southerly, southeastern, South America