May 10th, 2024 was just any other day until 11 pm that night. That’s when the legendary aurora borealis came to make an appearance in our night sky. All across the Puget Sound from Bremerton to Fox Island you could see these beautiful lights light up the night sky for all to see. But the Northern lights aren’t only just some bright things that light up our sky, so what really are the Northern lights? The northern lights are caused by massive solar flares or solar explosions that come from our sun and slam into our atmosphere then the magnetic field of our planet redirects this electric wave to the poles of our earth causing the beautiful lights we call the aurora borealis. Even though the Aurora is full of built-up energy it is not dangerous to humans but could be a problem for technology in the future if these solar blasts continue to tear at our atmosphere. Another thing that is highly sought after about these beautiful lights is the color of it which continues to dazzle everyone who sees them. Not only the colors themselves but also the fact that the colors are constantly changing and completely random. So why do the Northern lights have color and why aren’t they ever the same? Green is the most common color and it is formed when charged particles of energy collide at high speeds with lots of oxygen. Green is also the easiest color to see with the naked eye. Red is a lot less common and is usually seen during times of high solar activity. We see red because the oxygen and particles mix at a higher altitude where the oxygen is more condensed causing a higher elemental reaction. Blue and Purple are even rarer and also occur during times of high solar activity. These colors are usually produced at lower altitudes and are very hard to see with the naked eye. Lastly Yellow and pink, are the rarest and are usually seen as a mixture of blue, purple, and red auroras.