What Causes the Northern Lights?

The article explains that the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, are caused by electrically charged particles from the sun interacting with Earth's atmosphere. Recently, these light displays have been visible much farther south than usual due to heightened solar activity linked to the sun's 11-year solar cycle, which recently peaked. This peak increases solar storms and the solar wind—streams of charged particles emitted by the sun—that collide with Earth's magnetic field, producing the colorful auroras. Such heightened activity is expected to continue until around 2026. The sun generates energy through nuclear fusion, where hydrogen nuclei combine to form helium, releasing vast amounts of energy as described by Einstein’s equation E=mc². This energy heats the sun’s outer layers, creating plasma from which charged particles escape as the solar wind. The solar wind’s interaction with Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere causes phenomena like the auroras and also affects comets, pushing their ionized gas tails away from the sun. The sun’s magnetic field is unstable