aurora australis
1
8.1
- noun
- /əˈrɔrə ɔˈstrælɪs/
- Specialized
:
aurora austral
- Or you can head south for the Aurora Australis (the Southern Lights), which are going to shine, albeit less dramatically, from March onwards.
- aurora australis, or southern
Examples
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In Tasmania, many tourists flock to witness the stunning display of the aurora australis.
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It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever lived, offering crystal-clear night skies, unparalleled views of the universe, and the occasional appearance of Southern Lights, aurora australis.
Blog text (30) -
the Aurora Australis illuminates the southern skies
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I was wondering how I could capture this aurora australis on tape when I popped into solar space.
Fiction book (1999) -
The official names for these lights in the sky are the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights) and the Aurora Australis (the Southern Lights).
Blog text (26) -
At night, the aurora australis lights up the sky with beautiful shades of green and pink.
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The aurora australis can be seen glowing brightly near the South Pole during the winter months.
Synonyms
12
7.4
Bright moving lights in the night sky near the North or South Pole
1
5.1
Bright natural lights in the sky near the South Pole
Surface Forms
Morphology
aurora + australis
The phrase is fully compositional: 'aurora' (polar light) combined with the Latin-derived modifier 'australis' (southern) yields the literal and predictable meaning 'southern aurora'. The pattern is transparently parallel to 'aurora borealis' and is cross-linguistically supported, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.
Etymology
Aurora australis comes from Latin words: aurora meaning 'dawn' and australis meaning 'south'. People imagined the bright curtains of light as a kind of 'southern dawn', so the name now means the bright 'southern lights' seen near the South Pole.