How to Use southern lights in a Sentence

southern lights

plural noun
  • Is this the same as the northern or southern lights on Earth?
    — Robert Z. Pearlman, Space.com, 26 Mar. 2025
  • On Earth, this plays out as the northern and southern lights.
    — NBC News, 8 July 2021
  • Most of us will never get to see the northern or southern lights in person.
    — Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 19 Feb. 2021
  • The same basic process produces the glow of neon signs and the northern and southern lights.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 25 June 2018
  • In the south, it is called the aurora australis, or southern lights.
    — Tariq Malik, Scientific American, 12 Sep. 2014
  • Décor notes The building pulls in southern light from a two-story front atrium.
    — Anne Saker, Cincinnati.com, 16 Jan. 2020
  • The same phenomenon near the South Pole is called the southern lights.
    — Kerry Breen, CBS News, 11 Oct. 2024
  • The eclipse will occur toward the end of the southern lights (aurora australis) season.
    — Jamie Carter, Space.com, 26 Jan. 2025
  • When the light display is in the southern hemisphere, it is referred to as the southern lights or aurora australis.
    — Bebe Hodges, Cincinnati Enquirer, 12 Nov. 2025
  • Earth’s northern and southern lights aren’t yet completely understood, but the basics are clear.
    — Quanta Magazine, 22 June 2021
  • The island also offers a front-row seat to the southern lights and countless constellations.
    — Becca Blond, AFAR Media, 5 Feb. 2025
  • Meanwhile watch this space for updates on how and where to look for resulting northern or southern lights in the sky as our star stays unsettled.
    — Eric MacK, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2021
  • Researchers quickly connected the slow-downs to the northern and southern lights, or auroras.
    — Korey Haynes, Discover Magazine, 24 Apr. 2019
  • But the more intriguing effect could be how the storm lights up the sky, as in northern lights and southern lights, depending on your hemisphere of choice.
    — Eric MacK, Forbes, 16 Aug. 2022
  • One particular mystery is that the northern and southern lights don’t always match up like researchers would expect.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 31 Jan. 2019
  • Night-time pulsations on Earth tend to happen at higher latitudes and are linked to the northern and southern lights.
    — Robin George Andrews, National Geographic, 20 Sep. 2019
  • Northern lights tend to be called the aurora borealis and southern lights the aurora australis.
    — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2021
  • On Earth, the result is the colorful northern and southern lights, visible in green and blue ribbons across the night sky.
    — Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Its name is Steve The northern and southern lights have dazzled sky watchers for millennia with their eerie, greenish glows.
    — Katie Langin, Science | AAAS, 16 Mar. 2018
  • While the aurora borealis occurs in the north, the southern pole sees the aurora australis, or southern lights.
    — Sarah Rumpf, Fox News, 24 Mar. 2023
  • The southern hemisphere has its own polar lights known as the southern lights, or aurora australis, which create their own dazzling display.
    — Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 12 Aug. 2024
  • The southern hemisphere has its own polar lights known as the southern lights, or aurora australis, which create their own dazzling display.
    — Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 8 July 2023
  • The southern hemisphere has its own polar lights known as the southern lights, or aurora australis, which create their own dazzling display.
    — Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Then a few auroras, more popularly known as the northern lights and southern lights, become visible at the edge of our planet.
    — Elizabeth Howell, Space.com, 11 May 2026
  • The solar flares are not particularly significant for those after a glimpse of the northern or southern lights.
    — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2024
  • This also occurs in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is known as the aurora australis, or southern lights.
    — Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Nov. 2025
  • For the first time, astronomers have spotted an aurora, akin to our northern and southern lights, shimmering on a world outside our solar system.
    — Maggie McKee, Discover Magazine, 29 Nov. 2015
  • Northern lights and southern lights are caused when solar particles enter the atmosphere and collide with gas particles.
    — Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 13 Dec. 2021
  • In the Southern hemisphere, the phenomenon is known as the aurora australis, or southern lights.
    — Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 22 Jan. 2024
  • Under the full moon, the southern lights, and a sky full of stars, Lusti and Pierrel were in exactly the right place to make skiing history.
    — Jake Stern, Outside Online, 24 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'southern lights.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: