What Are the Northern Lights?

Marvel at the mesmerizing northern lights by learning the history of the natural light show and the science behind how the aurora borealis works!

It takes three things for the northern lights to appear in the sky: a stream of charged particles, a magnetic field, and an atmosphere of certain gases. For much of history, however, this scientific recipe was unknown. The northern lights were thought to be something magical or supernatural: It was once believed that the lights were dragons fightin...