Written by Saina Doval, a grade 5 student.

Do you know about the Aurora Borealis? It’s also popularly known as the Northern Lights. I can tell you right away! It is a beautiful breath-holding sight.

They look like bright dancing lights which are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the Earth’s atmosphere. They are most frequently seen in a belt of a radius of 2500 km centered on the magnetic pole.

The zone extends over northern Scandinavia, the southern tip of Greenland which continues over northern Canada, Alaska, and along the northern coast of Siberia. It is called Aurora Borealis in the north and Aurora Australis in the south. It appears in different colours like pale green, pink, red, yellow, blue and violet. Though it is most commonly pale green and pink. The lights appear in different forms, sometimes in patches and sometimes as scattered clouds.

Do you want to see the northern lights in person? That might be difficult right now! You” have to go to Alaska, Northern Canada or lceland. Instead, here’s a video: