Melbourne residents have been treated to a breathtaking sight - a pink glow in the sky. The phenomenon has been causing a stir on social media, with many trying to figure out its cause.

It's not the Aurora Australis, as one misguided tourist thought, but something much more mundane. The glow is coming from Marvel Stadium, owned by the AFL, which is using magenta LED lights to rejuvenate the ground's hard-used turf. They're a common tool for pitches at major sports stadiums.

The LED lights work by combining red and blue light, which promotes healthy growth in plants that may not be getting enough sunlight. This is according to the College of Wooster in the US state of Ohio. The College of Wooster says the combination of red and blue light, which creates the pink glow we see, promotes healthy growth in plants that may not be getting enough sunlight.

The use of pink lights at sports stadiums isn't new in Australia. They were first used at Allianz Stadium in Sydney in 2024. According to Allianz curator Adam Lewis, the plants only need about 5 per cent of blue light to start and kick off photosynthesis. Red light then comes in and helps with the growth.

This isn't the first time that pink skies have been seen in Melbourne. Similar glows have been spotted in other cities, including Birmingham in the UK and Mildura in Victoria.

In January, the British city of Birmingham was bathed in magenta light when staff at soccer stadium St Andrew’s deployed the same LEDs to the ground’s turf in the middle of a snowy winter. They didn't expect the light to be so noticeable. In 2022, a medicinal cannabis facility in Mildura, in north-west Victoria, accidentally gave away the location of its secret greenhouses when it left open the blackout blinds. The pink glow escaped to the cloudy sky above.

A year before that, residents of Horsham, three hours’ south, received the same spectacle when the town’s grain research park activated its new quarantine facility for crops. They were surprised by the pink glow in the sky.

The use of LED lights is becoming more common in various industries, including sports and agriculture. As technology advances, we can expect to see more innovative uses of LED lights in the future. They're likely to become even more widespread.

  • The pink glow in Melbourne's sky is coming from Marvel Stadium's LED lights.
  • The LED lights are used to promote healthy growth in the stadium's turf.
  • The use of pink lights at sports stadiums isn't new in Australia, with Allianz Stadium in Sydney being the first to use them in 2024.
  • The plants only need about 5 per cent of blue light to start and kick off photosynthesis, and red light to come in and help with the growth.
  • Similar glows have been spotted in other cities, including Birmingham in the UK and Mildura in Victoria.

The next time you're in Melbourne and you see a pink glow in the sky, you'll know that it's just the LED lights at Marvel Stadium doing their job. You won't be surprised, because you'll know what's causing it.