New Zealand skies explode with striking green and pink southern lights

Breathtaking southern lights coloured New Zealand's night sky with all hues of pink and crimson over the week.

The southern lights, also known as Aurora Australis, are more visible from New Zealand’s South Island, but since mid-March, the light has been so bright that it was visible from Auckland on the North Island.

The vibrant dancing lights have sent aurora-hunters on miles-long journeys to capture the perfect shot.

The aurora is caused by electrons emitted in a burst from the Sun that reaches the Earth’s atmosphere. Once they get low enough – about 100km above ground – they start to collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere, and a beautiful light show is created. In the north, the phenomenon is called Aurora Borealis.

The lights are visible in New Zealand and Australian skies during autumn and winter, but according to analysts, they have been more visible than usual this year.

“Over the last few weeks we’ve seen some really, really good auroras,” Ian Griffin, an astronomer and the director of Otago Museum, was quoted by The Guardian as saying.

“Around this time of year, near the equinoxes, the sun’s magnetic field and the Earth’s magnetic field line up in such a way that if there is a solar storm, the materials fall down into the Earth’s magnetic field very easily,” Mr Griffin added.

Twitter user Mark Gee shared a spectacular photograph of the lights on the social media platform, adding that it was “probably the best aurora display that I’ve seen from Wellington”.

Richard Zheng, an observer who was camped out at Brighton Beach in Dunedin to take pictures, told BBC that the intensity of the southern lights had grown "stronger and stronger".

"Faced with such a scene, you can instantly forget all your troubles, and only lament the insignificance of human beings in front of nature," Mr Zheng said.

While the natural phenomenon is normally seen in countries closer to the Arctic circle, UK stargazers have been treated to the rare sight in recent days, as the northern lights illuminated skies across the country.