Aurora australis lit up the sky over southern Australia days after four coronal mass ejections from the sun. While much of New South Wales missed the spectacle due to heavy cloud and rain, the light display was bigger than anything seen in Australia in decades. Geomagnetic solar storms occur when highly charged plasma erupts from the sun and is streamed into space. When those charged particles, known as the solar wind, hit the Earth’s magnetic field, they create the beautiful visual displays known as auroras
