This is the best summary I could come up with:

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology’s space weather forecasting centre issued an aurora alert on Monday morning, saying a severe solar storm was in progress and the southern lights could be visible.

Severe storms can disrupt power networks and the satellites that provide navigation, surveillance and communication services.

The BoM advises people hoping to see the aurora australis to find somewhere dark, like a beach or a hill with an unobstructed view south.

“It goes from a relatively benign, calm state with very few sunspots on the surface to a very active phase about five or six years later, with a maximum number of sun spots,” he said.

“It’s much more likely to release huge flares of energy, enormous quantities of charged particles radiating away from the sun … their characteristic colours are green or red but people report blues, yellows, even purples.

“This implies a higher level of solar activity over the next few years, but significant space weather can occur at other times in the cycle too.”

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