What Are the Northern Lights?

Marvel at the mesmerizing northern lights by learning the history of the natural light show and the science behind how the aurora borealis works! It takes three things for the northern lights to appear in the sky: a stream of charged particles, a magnetic field, and an atmosphere of certain gases. For much of history, however, this scientific recipe was unknown. The northern lights were thought to be something magical or supernatural: It was once believed that the lights were dragons fighting across the night sky. It wasn’t until 1230 that people began to think that the aurora borealis could be created by a natural and remarkable phenomenon. This led to hundreds of years of different scientists carefully studying the lights through dangerous expeditions and magnetic experiments. In 1908, a scientist named Kristian Birkeland finally discovered the cause of the northern lights, and his theory is the one we still believe today. Learn all about the fascinating history of the northern lights in this book for young readers.