People living in southern Australia may be able to see the Aurora Australis on Thursday night. The Bureau of Meteorology's Space Weather Service has issued an Aurora Alert for Thursday, which states that the evening hours will be the best chance of witnessing the aurora. There is a small chance that the southern lights will be visible before down on Thursday, although this is less likely as it depends on a coronal mass ejection from the sun arriving earlier than predicted. Auroras occur when particles emitted from the sun interact with gases in Earth's atmosphere. Different gases cause the various colours of light that are painted across the night sky. Visit http://www.sws.bom.gov.au/Aurora for the latest information on auroras in Australia.