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
Clarkia borealis Clarkia borealis Clarkia borealis is a rare species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family known by the common name northern clarkia. It is endemic to California, where it is known from the forests of the southern Klamath Range and the southernmost Cascade Range foothills. It is an annual herb growing an erect, slender stem. The leaves are oval in shape and borne on short petioles. The top of the stem is occupied by the inflorescence, in which the lowest flowers open first and hanging, pointed flower buds occur at nodes at the top. The sepals separate as the