In Canada, the northern lights are a pretty common phenomenon, especially the further north you get. But something occurred to me recently – what about the Southern Lights? Is there even such a thing?
Philip Dubbin, an amateur photographer, has given us a peek into the Southern Lights by documenting in a stunning way the Australis Borealis. The colors on display are equally as stunning as their northern counterparts we see in North America, Asia, and Europe.
Dubbin is an IT worker by trade, but on this night, he headed to Mushroom Reef in Melbourne near the Mornington Peninsula to capture these incredible images.
“Watching the aurora is such a relaxing but awe-inspiring sight,” Philip told Daily Mail. “Especially on a calm and clear night – though we don’t get the bright colors by eye unless it’s a huge storm.”
Just like in the Arctic, the lights near the south pole occur when electrically charged protons and electrons enter Earth’s magnetic field and collide with neutral atoms high up in the atmosphere.