One might think that calling it the greatest light show on Earth is a bit hyperbolic … until you stand just once beneath the shimmering curtains of the northern lights.

In the Northern Hemisphere, we know the lights as the aurora borealis — in the Southern Hemisphere as the aurora australis — and they have mystified and inspired skywatchers for ages.

Some tribes of North American Indians believed the aurora to be the light of lanterns carried by spirits seeking the souls of dead hunters.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, folks believed the lights to be the breath of deceased soldiers as they battled forever overhead.

And the Aborigines of Australia saw the southern lights as a dance of the gods across the heavens.

It Starts with the Sun

Today, however, we prefer a more scientific approach, and we’ve learned the aurora originates with our star: the sun.

The solar atmosphere continues to spray outward electrically charged particles (the solar wind), and occasionally it erupts in violent flares and coronal mass ejections.

These can reach the Earth 93 million miles away, and when they do, they spiral down our planet’s magnetic field lines, slam into the polar regions of our atmosphere and cause atoms of oxygen and nitrogen to glow a variety of undulating colors.

Those who live in arctic regions can enjoy these magical lights on most clear nights.

A typical auroral display begins as a diffuse and colorless arc during late evenings but can produce intricate ripples and curls that dance along the arc, giving the impression of curtains blowing gently in the breeze.

Most often we see them as a faint grayish green, but when they brighten, they can radiate brilliant colors such as yellow-green, crimson, purple and sometimes even blue.

Those of us who live in lower latitudes aren’t excluded, though. When the sun is particularly active, auroral storms can become quite powerful and frequent, producing displays throughout southern Canada and much of the United States and Europe.

It’s rare, but it does happen from time to time.

California Streamin’

And now is just one of those times. Our sun is currently at the top of its 11-year activity cycle (“solar max”), and major eruptions are occurring daily on our star.

These caused rare widespread auroral displays last week, visible as far south as Southern California, and it’s just a matter of time until we in middle and lower latitudes see them again. Click here to keep up with current solar and auroral activity.

Of course, to experience the lights in their true splendor at this time of heightened solar activity, one must travel to places like Alaska, Canada, Iceland and Norway, where they can be seen dancing across the sky on just about every clear night.

If this amazing sight is on your bucket list, I hope you’ll consider joining me for my exciting March 2025 Alaska Northern Lights tour, where I’ll teach you to predict, view and even photograph the lights like a pro.

Email me at dennis@mammana.com for more details about this once-in-a-lifetime cosmic adventure.

Wherever you live — or wherever you travel — keep your eyes skyward, for the aurora may soon be appearing in a sky near you!