Last Week the Aurora’s Lit Up Our Skies, but There’s More to Them Than Meets the Eye

Last week the Southern Lights or Aurora Australis lit up Australian skies as far north as Queensland. This spectacular display occurs during intense geomagnetic storms, when charged particles collide with Earth’s magnetosphere to create scattered colours across our skies. But while a beautiful sight, the physics behind aurorae can have some unexpected side effects.

Dr John Morgan is a radio astronomer with CSIRO, whose work focuses on predicting space weather. We caught up with him to learn more about space weather, radio astronomy, and just how devastating the forces behind aurorae can be.