Five Remarkable Facts About the Northern Lights

There have been some remarkable videos showing the Northern Lights over Lapland recently, prompting Sophie Bushwick of Scientific American to look at some of the remarkable facts about the Aurora Borealis. 

Bushwick discusses what causes the Northern Lights to appear in the sky, what creates the colors we see, the side effects of the aurora, early theories of what causes the phenomena, and where to best see the Aurora Borealis or Aurora Australis.