A sort of wind is always blowing from the sun. The solar wind isn't a cool summer breeze like we have on earth, but a superhot stream of plasma (electrons and protons)! Sometimes a flare of plasma bursts out from the sun. If it happens to be aimed towards earth, the earth's magnetic field guides the plasma towards the northern and southern poles, in the same way that the picture tube's electromagnet guides the electron beam across the screen.

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