As I celebrated the weekend of finishing my first AP test and started studying for yet another one, the universe gave me the sweetest surprise by showing me what, in my opinion, is the most beautiful sky I’ve ever seen. Indeed, I saw the Arora Borealis, or Northern lights.

Arora Borealis form due to the charged ions in the thermosphere (a layer of the atmosphere) that is hit with solar radiation at high speed, which creates interactions with Nitrogen and Oxygen, hence creating a dancing blue, green and reddish pattern in the sky. I didn’t know that before I took my APES class in school. It was cool to learn about them and even cooler to be able to experience it.