Welcome to my Aurora Borealis / Northern Lights and dark sky gallery. The “northern lights” are caused by collisions between fast moving electron particles from space sent towards earth from the sun. When these particles collide with oxygen and nitrogen gas molecules in the atmosphere the results are colorful displays of light. The color of the aurora depends on which gas is being excited by the electrons and on how much energy is being exchanged. Oxygen emits either a greenish-yellow light the most commonly seen color or a red light, nitrogen gas generally gives off a blue light. You can see all of these colors and more in my gallery as well as examples of another light emitting phenomenon known as airglow. Airglow is a very weak emission of green or red light by the planetary atmosphere all of the below images have been taken in Michigan.