New Zealanders have been treated to colourful skies as Aurora Australis lights up the skies with purple, blue and pink streaks.

People were given a rare glimpse into the mechanics of the sun and its effects on our planet after the solar flares caused the colourful display last night.

Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation and energy blasted from the Sun’s surface when built-up magnetic energy is suddenly released.

They often happen near sunspots, where the Sun’s magnetic fields are particularly strong.

Southern Aurora. Photo taken at Traquair Station near Lee Stream, Otago.

Aurora colours over North Dunedin last night. Photo / Riley Clark.

Particularly when such flares are accompanied by coronal mass ejections, they can release massive clouds of charged particles, or plasma, that travel through space and interact with Earth’s magnetic field.

This activity can lead to geomagnetic storms, which, in turn, can trigger dazzling auroras visible in our night skies.

A Flourish data visualization

The flare comes as a team of Kiwi scientists have been working with the energy sector on a $15 million project aimed at preparing for a much larger event than May’s – a so-called “solar tsunami”.

The most powerful solar tsunami in recent times – the 1859 “Carrington Event” - could have caused widespread damage to gas and electricity networks, and railway signals, if it happened today.

Another solar storm in 2012 was of similar magnitude, but it passed Earth’s orbit without striking the planet.

-NZ Herald.