Aurora borealis over a river

Credit: TOMMY ELIASSEN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Caption: Aurora borealis over a river, with frost flowers in the foreground. This coloured light display (the northern lights) is visible in the night sky at high latitudes. It occurs when charged and energetic particles from the Sun (the solar wind) are drawn by Earth's magnetic field to the polar regions. Hundreds of kilometres up, they collide with gas molecules and atoms, causing them to emit light. Photographed in Hamaroy, Nordland, Norway.

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