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Aurora Borealis. Man photographing the Aurora Borealis. The aurora borealis (northern lights) is a coloured light display that is visible in the night sky at high latitudes. It occurs when charged and energetic particles from the Sun (the solar wind) are drawn by Earth's magnetic field to the polar regions. Hundreds of kilometres up, they collide with gas molecules and atoms, causing them to emit light. Photographed in Lapland, Sweden (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/BABAK TAFRESHI, TWAN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY)