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Articles on Aurora Australis
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Aurora forecasting is notoriously tricky. But there are ways to know where and when you should be looking – from email alerts to 30 minute forecasts.
The southern lights have inspired artists for more then 200 years. Here are some of the best examples from across the decades.
The aurora was noticeable with the naked eye – but was spectacular through a camera lens.
Australians were in for a Mother’s Day treat as auroras swept the skies. But there was little warning, and the spectacle didn’t repeat.
The electric rainbow of the aurora happens when excited atoms relax via ‘forbidden transitions’.
The aurora is one of nature’s most spectacular sights, a dazzling glow in the upper atmosphere driven by space weather.
The green glow of an aurora is caused by oxygen ions in the upper atmosphere. Some meteors can glow in this way, too, but only if they are extremely fast.
It’s often said that the aurora, or the northern lights, is caused by ‘particles from the Sun’. But in reality things are more complicated.
A curious kid asks: Why are the northern lights only spotted at areas around the poles?
When solar particles reach the Earth, they not only produce spectacular auroras but also contribute to the chemical reactions leading to ozone depletion, which in turn influences climate patterns.
Researchers have found the first Australian evidence of this global event, during which people on Earth would have witnessed a multitude of spectacular auroras.
The northern lights might look like magic, but they can actually be explained by science – here’s how.
The wired Earth of the 21st century is at the mercy of the volatile nature of the sun.
At a time in the sun’s cycle when space weather experts expect less solar activity, our star is going bonkers with solar flares and coronal mass ejections. What effects will Earth feel?
In the search for life on other planets in the universe we need to find the right kind of star, and it needs to have the right kind of space weather.
Recent Martian findings are just the latest discoveries of aurora on other planets, both in and out of our solar system.
Astronauts living on the ISS get to experience the wonders of the universe’s natural phenomena like no one else.
Our power grid infrastructure on Earth is more vulnerable to space weather than previously thought – with susceptibility in more regions and even during quiet geomagnetic periods.
The southern lights that put on a show recently across parts of Australia are easily explained by science. But some cultures have their own explanation for these dazzling lights in the sky.
Top contributors
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Associate Professor, RMIT University
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ARC Future Fellow, University of Newcastle
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Researcher in Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College
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Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland
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Senior Lecturer (Astronomy), University of Southern Queensland
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Research Professor of Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology
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Lecturer in Mathematics, University of Dundee
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Post-Doctoral Research Assistant in Photobiology, University of Dundee
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Research Officer, RMIT University
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RMIT University
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Boston College
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Senior Research Associate in Space and Planetary Physics, Lancaster University
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Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne
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Honorary Research Fellow, Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow
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Space Physicist, NASA
