The northern and southern lights are among nature's most spectacular sights, providing beautiful light shows that dance across the night skies — but what exactly is an aurora?
Auroras, also known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), are caused by the sun's energy and particles interacting with Earth's atmosphere as the planet's magnetic fields funnel them towards the poles. They are most commonly seen in high-latitude regions around the Arctic and Antarctic.
