Aurora Borealis Star Northern Lights

Large storms on the sun are sending gamma rays of energy which excite molecules in our atmosphere causing them to glow like a fluorescent light bulb. As the sun’s radiation skims past the earth in the stratosphere above us at night, we can sometimes see this spectacular phenomenon which is called aurora borealis in the northern hemisphere or “northern lights.” The shimmering, sometimes very bright colored lights are one of the magical wonders of the night sky.