Jawaban:

I first saw the northern lights three years ago, while driving home one night. They were so beautiful, I had to stop the car and get out to have a proper look, even though it was cold. Although the northern lights might look like magic, they can actually be explained by science – with a bit of help from the Sun, birds and fizzy drinks.

The energy for making the northern lights comes from the Sun. The Sun creates something called the “solar wind”. This is different to the light that we get from the Sun, which keeps us warm and helps us to see during the day.

This solar wind drifts away from the Sun through space, carrying tiny particles called protons and electrons. Protons and electrons are some of the tiny building blocks that make up most of the stuff in the universe, like plants and chocolate and me and you.

Think of the smallest Lego bricks you have in your toy box, which can be stuck together to make bigger things - these are what protons and electrons (and neutrons too) are to the universe. These particles carry lots of energy from the Sun, on their journey through space.

The solar wind

Sometimes the solar wind is strong, and sometimes it’s weak. We can only see the northern lights at times when the solar wind is strong enough.

When the solar wind reaches planet Earth, something very interesting happens: it runs into the Earth’s magnetic field. The magnetic field forces the solar wind away, and makes it travel around the Earth instead.

The magnetic field is what makes the needle on a compass point north, and is how birds know where to go when they migrate – it’s also why we have the north and south poles at all.