Aurora Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), sometimes referred to as polar lights, northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in the Earth's sky, predominantly seen in the high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras are produced when the magnetosphere is sufficiently disturbed by the solar wind that the trajectories of charged particles in both solar wind and magnetospheric plasma, mainly in the form of electrons and protons, precipitate them into the upper atmosphere (thermosphere/exosphere) due to Earth's magnetic field, where their energy is lost. The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric
Aurora of [[Uppsala]] by [[Anders Celsius]] and [[Olof Hiorter]]. In 1741, Hiorter was able to link large magnetic fluctuations with an aurora being observed overhead. This evidence helped to support their theory that 'magnetic storms' are responsible for such compass fluctuations. [[File:Church 1911.4.1.jpg|thumb|[[Frederic Edwin Church|Church's]] 1865 painting "[[Aurora Borealis (painting)|Aurora Borealis]]"]] A variety of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] myths surround the spectacle. The European explorer [[Samuel Hearne]] traveled with [[Chipewyan|Chipewyan Dene]] in 1771 and recorded their views on the "ed-thin" ('caribou'). According to Hearne, the Dene people saw the resemblance between an aurora and the sparks produced when [[caribou]]