Also known as Aurora borealis and Aurora australis.

The Aurora borealis is a vivid demonstration of the Earth's magnetic field interacting with charged particles from the sun.

FACTS :

In the northern hemisphere it is called Aurora borealis, also known as the "Northern Lights". In the southern hemisphere, it is called Aurora australis, also known as the "Southern Lights".The most common colors that we see in Northern Lights are violet, blue, yellow, green and pink with green being the commonest of all. Orange and white colors are also seen but they are rare occurrences.The color that will show up actually depends on which elemental molecules or atoms the charged particles are colliding with.Green and yellow occurs when the charged particles from sun bombard with oxygen.Violet, red and blue are produced when the charged particles interact with nitrogen.Apart from a spectacular visual display, the lights also produce faint sounds such as claps, crackles,and static sounds.Auroras also occur on other planets in our solar system including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Mars. Similar to Earth’s aurora, the lights have been seen close to other planets magnetic poles.Aurora Borealis is one of the seven Wonders of the Natural World.

What causes them actually ?

To be more precise, two things are responsible for this dazzling display of lights – the charged particles shooting out of the sunspots that form on sun and the elemental molecules and atoms (such as nitrogen and oxygen molecules and atoms) that happily float around in Ionosphere and Exosphere of earth’s atmosphere.

What really happens ?

What really happens is that during solar storms, the charged particles from sun are spewed out in form of plasma. Plasma can travel in any direction and can even head towards our earth.

It takes about 40 hours and 93 million miles of travelling for the plasma winds to get close enough to earth’s magnetic fields that stretch out to thousands of kilometers in space.

Once the charged particles in the plasma are close enough to be incapable of resisting the gravitation tug of our planet, they simple come shooting towards earth and bombard with the molecules of various elements, resulting in the vivid display of the dazzling lights that have captured out attention of millennials.

Where to see ?

The best places to see the Aurora borealis are northern Canada and Alaska.

In Europe one of the best places to see this natural phenomenon is Tromso, Norway and the city of Murmansk on the Kola Peninsula of Russia.

The best place to see the Aurora australis is in Antarctica in the winter months. If the Aurora australis is strong, then it can be seen in Tasmania, Australia and Stewart Island off the southern coast of New Zealand.