Northern Lights Cathedral Church as the main church for the deanery. The "Northern Lights" are the Aurora Borealis associated with the Arctic night sky. At the opening service, bishop Per Oskar Kjølaas admitted that the word was contentious since it technically meant not a parish church but a cathedral (for which the more common Norwegian word is ). He defended the name by the informal precedents of the and , and argued that a bishop is at home in all churches of the diocese. Northern Lights Cathedral The Northern Lights Cathedral - Alta Church () is a parish church of the Church of
Southern Hemisphere oceanic. This zone includes the southern tip of Uruguay and South Africa; the southern half of Chile and Argentina; parts of Australia, going south from Adelaide, and all of New Zealand. The Sagittarius constellation that includes the galactic centre is a southern constellation and this, combined with clearer skies, makes for excellent viewing of the night sky from the Southern Hemisphere with brighter and more numerous stars. Forests in the Southern Hemisphere have special features which set them apart from those in the Northern Hemisphere. Both Chile and Australia share, for example, unique beech species or "Nothofagus", and New Zealand