What is the cause of the Aurora Australis?

Answer 1

The Aurora Australis - Southern Lights (and the northern hemisphere's Aurora Borealis) are caused by the interaction of Earth's magnetic field with the flow of highly-charged particles from the Sun (known as the "solar wind"). Collisions of these particles with atmospheric molecules causes energy emission as visible light.

Auroras are normally confined to polar regions, which are nearer the magnetic poles.

When magnetic storms occur on the Sun, when electrically charged particles (ions) from the corona and solar flares are added to the solar wind produced by the corona, the charged particles are accelerated by the Earth's magnetic field interact with the gases in the upper atmosphere and cause the gas molecules to emit light. Electrons in the molecules are excited to higher energy levels and then release photons when the fall back to lower energy levels.

Answer 2

The Aurora Australis is caused by solar wind particles interacting with the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere in the Southern Hemisphere. These particles excite gases in the atmosphere, creating the beautiful light display known as the Southern Lights.