West Australian stargazers have been treated to a dazzling light show thanks to a spectacular aurora illuminating the night sky on Wednesday evening.

Aurora Australis — also known as the southern lights — stunned southern parts of WA, South Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland with magical hues of green, purple, pink and orange about 8.30pm AWST.

An aurora is caused by coronal mass ejections — huge blasts of high energy erupting from the sun.

When these particles reach Earth, they collide with oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere and create geomagnetic storms, generating dramatic displays of coloured light.

“The Earth’s magnetic field is a bit like a dipole, so it funnels that plasma coming from the sun towards the two poles, the North Pole and the South Pole,” she said

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