Polar light, also known as an aurora, is a natural light in the sky caused by the interaction of earth’s magnetic field with particles from the sun. It is normally seen in polar regions and at night. When coming from the north polar lights are known as Aurora Borealis, Borealis for north wind, or the Northern Lights.

While being seen best closer to the poles, polar lights can be seen all over the world from time to time and even on other planets, and are also many different colors. They show up as glows or curtains of color.Green, blue, and red are common colors for auroras. Charged particles from the sun come to the magnetic poles of the earth and they collide with atoms of oxygen and nitrogen. Oxygen tends to give a green or brownish-red color while nitrogen gives a red or blue color. Altitude has a huge influence in the color of polar lights. At high altitudes the oxygen causes a red light. Lower down the oxygen will give a green light and the nitrogen will give a blue and red light. Then finally there is lower down when only the blue and red from the nitrogen is seen. The most common color for an aurora is green, followed by pink which is a mixture of the green and red colors. The rarest color of aurora is the red light which is caused by a collision only 200 miles (320 km) above the earth!