Australians could catch a glimpse of the rare southern lights up their sky this week, the phenomenon emits colorful rays of lights into the atmosphere, this phenomenon usually happens near the earth’s north and south poles, but luckily, Aussies could catch a glimpse of the rare aurora lighting.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology issued an aurora alert indicating a geomagnetic storm, the department added that the lights will be visible from the southern parts of Australia during night hours.

The Bureau of Meteorology said that the lights could be views with the naked eye if you live in Tasmania, the southern mainland coastline of Australia, and Antarctica.

For people who live in lower latitudes, the aurora lights could be seen from the horizon, but the naked eye will only see shades of gray as less color will be emitted.

Dr. Jeanne Young, a space weather forecaster from the Bureau of Meteorology, said that it is possible to see stronger colors, but this would depend on the intensity of the solar storms.

Auroras occur when electrically charged particles from the sun enter the atmosphere of the earth and collide with particles that are present there. Auroras can occur any time throughout the year.

Auroras usually appear in different colors, but the most commons ones emit pale green and pink colors.

Northern auroras are often called as the “northern lights” and Aurora Borealis, which means “dawn of the north”.

Southern lights are called as Aurora Australis, which is derived from the Latin term that means southern, this is also how Australia got its name from.

The Bureau of Meteorology says that the best day to catch the aurora is today or on Thursday during the night time, with less cloud, no bright moon, and less light pollution.

Usually, the brightest auroras last for one or two hours, and the best viewing time is from 10 pm to 2 am.