What is an aurora? - Michael Molina?

An aurora is like a shimmering dance in the sky caused by tiny particles from space bumping into Earth’s atmosphere.

Imagine you're playing outside on a cold night, and suddenly, tiny sparks of light start swirling above your head, that's an aurora! It happens when charged particles, which are like little balls with electricity inside them, come flying from the sun toward Earth. These particles ride on the solar wind, which is kind of like a stream of space stuff flowing through the universe.

When these charged particles reach Earth, they bump into gases in our atmosphere, think of it like a game of tag! The gas molecules get excited and light up, creating colorful lights that shimmer and flicker across the sky. Sometimes you can see green, pink, or even purple lights depending on which gases are involved.

These lights usually appear near the poles, where Earth’s magnetic field is strongest, kind of like a giant invisible net catching those charged particles.

Sometimes, people call it the northern lights or southern lights, but really, it's just a beautiful light show made by space and air working together!