The northern lights, or Aurora Borealis, rain over downtown Juneau, Mount Juneau, and Gastineau Channel in Alaska. The scientific name for the northern lights is Aurora Borealis. Bursts of electrically charged particles streaming off the sun, called solar winds, strike the earth’s upper atmosphere creating these curtains of light. The most common shades range from pale to yellowish green, but they may be vivid green, purple, or red.
