What are these glowing lights in the sky called?

These glowing lights are called the Northern Lights, also known as auroras, which happen when charged particles from the Sun collide with gases high in Earth's atmosphere and create shimmering, colorful waves of light in the sky. During 2024 and 2025 the Sun was unusually active, sending out extra bursts of these particles.

Falling stars are actually tiny bits of space rock burning up quickly as they streak across the sky, and rainbows form from sunlight bending through raindrops, neither of which explains a slow, glowing, colorful light show at night.

Because the Sun was so active during these years, auroras appeared much farther from the poles than usual, letting people in places that almost never see them catch a rare glimpse.