Are the Northern Lights dangerous?

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Fabio Pacucci |

TED-Ed

• March 2022

In September 1859, miners following the Colorado gold rush woke up to another sunny day. Or so they thought. To their surprise, they soon discovered it was actually 1am and the sky wasn't lit by the sun, but rather by brilliant drapes of light. The blazing glow was a solar storm— the largest in recorded history. So what exactly is a solar storm? Fabio Paccuci explains this astrophysical phenomena. [Directed by Nick Hilditch, narrated by Jack Cutmore-Scott].