SOUTHERN LIGHTS

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does southern lights mean? 

• SOUTHERN LIGHTS (noun)
  The noun SOUTHERN LIGHTS has 1 sense:

1. the aurora of the southern hemisphere

  Familiarity information: SOUTHERN LIGHTS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOUTHERN LIGHTS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The aurora of the southern hemisphere

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

aurora australis; southern lights

Hypernyms ("southern lights" is a kind of...):

aurora (an atmospheric phenomenon consisting of bands of light caused by charged solar particles following the earth's magnetic lines of force)

 Context examples 

Juno also is designed to study the polar magnetosphere and the origin of Jupiter's powerful auroras—its northern and southern lights.

(First Science Results from NASA’s Juno Mission, NASA)

Ganymede has auroras, or northern and southern lights, just like Earth does.

(Fresh Results from NASA’s Galileo Spacecraft 20 Years On, NASA)

This is 10 to 30 times higher than the largest auroral potentials observed at Earth, where only several thousands of volts are typically needed to generate the most intense auroras — known as discrete auroras — the dazzling, twisting, snake-like northern and southern lights seen in places like Alaska and Canada, northern Europe, and many other northern and southern polar regions.

(Jupiter's Auroras Present a Powerful Mystery, NASA)