Southern Lights facts for kids
The Southern Lights usually means the amazing natural light show called the Aurora australis. It's like a beautiful dance of colors in the sky, mostly seen in places close to the South Pole.
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What Are the Southern Lights?
The Southern Lights, or Aurora australis, are bright, colorful lights that appear in the night sky. They are most often seen in the southern parts of the world, like Antarctica, New Zealand, and Tasmania. These lights are like a mirror image of the Northern Lights (Aurora borealis), which are seen near the North Pole.
How Do the Southern Lights Happen?
These incredible lights are created when tiny particles from the Sun hit Earth's atmosphere. The Sun constantly sends out a stream of these particles, called the solar wind. When the solar wind reaches Earth, it interacts with our planet's magnetic field.
Earth's magnetic field acts like a shield, protecting us. But it's weaker near the North and South Poles. So, the solar wind particles can get pulled into the atmosphere there. When these particles crash into gases like oxygen and nitrogen high above Earth, they make the gases glow. Different gases glow in different colors, creating the stunning display we see.
Colors of the Aurora
The colors you see in the Southern Lights depend on which gases are hit and how high up they are.
- Green is the most common color. It's made by oxygen about 60 miles (97 km) above Earth.
- Red lights come from oxygen at higher altitudes, around 200 miles (320 km) up.
- Blue and purple lights are created by nitrogen.
When Can You See Them?
The best time to see the Southern Lights is during the winter months in the Southern Hemisphere, when the nights are long and dark. This is usually from March to September. You also need a clear sky, away from city lights, to get the best view. Strong solar storms can make the lights even brighter and visible from further away.
Other Uses of "Southern Lights"
Sometimes, "Southern Lights" can refer to other things too:
- Southern Lights is a novel written by Danielle Steel in 2009.
- Southern Lights is an album by a musician named SJD, released in 2004.
- Southern Lights: Overexposed is a multimedia album from 2015 by Alex Faith and Dre Murray.
- "The Southern Lights" is an episode from the animated TV show The Legend of Korra.
