Astronomer here! Just posted a lecture about the Earth’s magnetosphere and what causes the northern lights- thought after the big show this week some of you would be interested!

This is part of the solar system astronomy class I’m teaching this quarter (and then putting the edited lectures online for free). Pretty good timing with the big storm this week, so thought I would post here if anyone wants to learn about the science of the northern lights! (I also cover stuff like the Carrington Event, pole reversals, and all that good stuff.)