Did you see the spectacular Aurora Australis southern lights over Adelaide?

Clouds may have dampened last night’s natural light show which took place in our southern suburbs, but these amazing pictures captured by an astronaut show all the glory!

The view of the spectacular Aurora Australis light show for Adelaide’s southern suburbs residents was largely dampened by cloud cover on Thursday night.

Also known as the Southern Lights, the event happens when an eruption occurs on the sun, causing the particles to blow away from the sun.

The result is a glowing band in the sky, usually green in colour, with red particles usually more easily see through a camera lens.

Adelaide Planetarium lecturer and educator Martin Lewicki said due to the high amount of solar activity in recent days, the glow was likely for the southern suburbs if weather permitted.

The view of the Aurora Australis from space on August 18, 2022. Picture: Twitter/ @Astro_FarmerBob

“When the cloud of particles reaches the earth’s vicinity it interacts with the earth’s magnetic field, and that channels the particles down at very high speed, usually about 100km/sec and they collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere and cause them to glow,” Mr Lewicki said.

“We find them mostly in the polar regions, where the magnetic fields of the earth goes down and concentrates down towards north and south magnetic poles, and that’s where most of the particles get channelled down the magnetic field lines of the earth, and that’s where they’re hitting the atmosphere, and causing it to glow.”

The aurora was likely at any point in the evening when it was completely dark, and was likely to last from minutes to an hour.

The view of the Aurora Australis from space on August 18, 2022. Picture: Twitter/ @Astro_FarmerBob

Hundreds of people interested in the light show took to social media, and said cloud cover obstructed their view.

But one NASA astronaut, Bob Hines, captured pictures of the lights from above earth in space on Thursday.

In the amazing pictures posted to Twitter, Mr Hines said the aurora was “spectacular”.

“Thankful for the recent solar activity resulting in these wonderful sights”.

The Aurora Australis a result of collisions between energetic electrons and the southern hemisphere's version of the northern lights at another time. Picture: Kelly Clitheroe

“If you’re near the pole you can watch them for a very long time, an hour … but the further you are away from the pole you’re less likely to see them, and they’re more likely to be shorter lasting, sometimes minutes,” he said.

“We’re just going to have passing showers all night, so it will be cloudy conditions for most of the evening,” Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Mark Anolak said on Thursday.

“There might be a gap in between (the cloud),” he said.

The Aurora Australis as seen from Port Lonsdale in Victoria earlier this year. Picture: Lachlan Manley Photography

Mr Lewicki said the Southern Lights was not a regular event but would occur more commonly due to the current high solar activity.

“It’s like lottery numbers … it’s not a regular event, it can happen quickly, it might happen a few of them at a time then you might have nothing for a while, it’s a bit of a luck of the draw,” he said.

“The sun goes through a cycle called the solar sun spot cycle, every 11 years it gets active then it quietens down, so that part’s predictable.

“During higher solar activity the auroras are more intense and more colourful, you won’t see all of the colours with your eyes but cameras will pick up quite a few colours … but mostly they’re greenish looking to the eye but if you’re lucky and it’s an intense aurora, you might pick up some reddish hues.”