These phenomena are, in fact, driven by solar wind, a flow of charged particles ejected violently from the sun. This fast-moving plasma, especially intense during periods of heightened solar activity, travels through space until it slams into the earth’s magnetosphere, whereupon it follows the lines of the planet’s magnetic field down to the poles. When the particles collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the earth’s upper atmosphere, the agitated atoms emit radiation that we perceive as streamers of red, green, violet, or white light.
