Aristotle once thought auroras were actually the sky vomiting bits of flames.
For many centuries, auroras were big, mysterious puzzles that made for great storytelling fodder and crazy theories like Aristotle's. But the truth is that auroras are not raging nighttime fires -- they're actually a side effect.
Waves of charged particles from the Sun constantly pound our planet. Lucky for us, Earth's swirling, molten core provides a magnetic field that shields us from solar winds. Auroras -- also commonly known as the Northern and Southern Lights -- are the product of those solar winds dancing with our protective magnetic field and polar atmosphere.
Joe Hanson, biologist and host/writer of PBS' "It's Okay To Be Smart," carefully explains how these incredible natural phenomena come to be. Take five minutes of your lunch break to learn more about Earth's most incredible light show.
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