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One witness to an 1859 Northern Lights display was the artist Frederic Edwin Church, who later painted Aurora Borealis (above, detail). SAAM, 1911.4.1 In 1859, a record-breaking aurora borealis ...

The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, are one of nature's most spectacular displays. Auroras occur when charged particles from the sun collide with gases in Earth's upper atmosphere.

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