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Science

What are the Northern Lights?

Episode 453 13:53

In this episode

Look up at the night sky! Have you ever seen giant, glowing ribbons of green, purple, and red light dancing in the air? Join Mira and Finn as they uncover the wild, fiery truth behind the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis! You might think they are just pretty, glowing clouds, but they are actually caused by massive explosions on the Sun, ninety-three million miles away! Discover how a fiery, two-million-mile-an-hour solar wind travels through space and crashes into Earth's invisible magnetic shield in a gigantic game of space bumper cars. Plus, we'll travel back to the Carrington Event of 1859—a super-storm from the Sun that was so bright, confused gold miners woke up at 1:00 AM to cook bacon, thinking it was morning! You won't believe how this intense space weather even caused unplugged telegraph machines to literally catch on fire. Bundle up and get ready for a mind-blowing space adventure that is truly out of this world!

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