southern lights

noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. aurora australis.

southern lights

plural noun

1. another name for aurora australis

southern lights

1. See under aurora

Word History and Origins

Origin of southern lights¹

First recorded in 1765–75

When To Use

What are the southern lights?

The southern lights are the shimmering display of lights that sometimes appears in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere.The phenomenon is also called aurora australis (the word australis is Latin for austral, which simply means “southern”). An aurora is a natural light display in the sky that is caused by particles from the sun interacting with Earth’s magnetic field. The aurora australis appears in many colors ranging from green and pink to red, yellow, and blue.Auroras are not exclusive to Earth and occur on every planet in our solar system except Mercury. And the southern lights are not the only aurora on Earth. The more commonly known aurora in the Northern Hemisphere is called aurora borealis or the northern lights (the word borealis is Latin for boreal, which simply means “northern”). Both the northern and southern versions can be called aurora polaris because they occur around Earth’s poles, but this term is not commonly used.The southern lights dazzle the many people who travel to see the natural light show, which is considered one of Earth’s most magical phenomena.