The aurora borealis, also called the northern lights, is a spectacular natural light show that appears in the night sky near the North Pole. Shimmering curtains of green, pink, purple, and red light seem to dance and wave across the darkness, sometimes moving slowly like rippling fabric, other times pulsing and shifting rapidly.

This phenomenon happens when electrically charged particles from the sun collide with gases in Earth's atmosphere, about 60 to 200 miles above the surface. The different colors depend on which gases the particles hit: oxygen creates green and red light, while nitrogen produces blue and purple. It's similar to how a neon sign glows when electricity passes through the gas inside its tubes.

People living in Alaska, northern Canada, Scandinavia, and other far northern regions can sometimes see the aurora borealis on clear winter nights. The lights are most visible in the aurora zone, a band that circles the Arctic. Indigenous peoples of the north have watched these lights for thousands of years and created many stories to explain them.

There's also an aurora australis, or southern lights, near Antarctica, though fewer people live close enough to see it regularly. Scientists can now predict when auroras will be particularly strong, and people sometimes travel to northern locations specifically to witness this remarkable display.