What I learned in class

In class, I learned about the auroras, solar flares, sun spots, The sun and the solar system. Firstly I will explain a bit about auroras... Auroras or Aurora Borealis as scientist call it, are the colored lights seen in the skies around the Polar regions What causes the aurora? The sun emits a continuous stream of charged particles called the solar wind. This wind interacts with the magnetic field of the Earth and produces large electrical currents. These currents flow along the magnetic field lines down into the upper atmosphere surrounding the north and south magnetic poles. These currents cause the atmospheric gases to glow like the gas in a fluorescent tube. Does the aurora occur on other planets? The answer is yes! The Earth is not the only planet in the solar system on which auroras may be seen. Auroras may also be seen on the gas giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These planets all have strong magnetic fields.

The Sun

The Sun. The big ball of gas that happens to bring light an warmth to Earth.

The Sun creates solar flares (which are awesome) and it creates aurora that are only visible at each of the poles.

Auroras:

An aurora is, as defined by Encarta Dictionaries, northern or southern lights: a phenomenon occurring in the night sky around the polar regions creating streamers, folds, or arches of colored light.

Lovely. Now, what about the sun makes the aurora lights? The sun emits a stream of particles into space constantly. This is called 'solar wind'. The solar wind particles are then attracted to Earth's polar regions because of their magnetic force. The particles then interact with Earth's atmosphere to cause absolutely spiffing lights!

This is a picture of Aurora Borealis (northern hemisphere aurorae)

<------ (in case you couldn't find it)

Now, on forth to Solar Flares!
Firstly, you would need to know what a sun spot is.

Sun spots are mainly hollow areas on the sun that are a few thousand degrees cooler than the gas around it. Solar flares come from these solar spots, and they can reach hundreds of thousands of kilmoteres into space!
A neat fact about solar flares; they can interfere with radio and television signals! In other words, blame the sun when your signal doesn't work!
Anyway, here is a solar flare:

Cool (not literally). It looks like it's trying to grab a sandwich. Anyway, now you know about solar flares and auroras!

P.S. auroras mainly occur at night.

Additional notes: There recently was an aurorae borealis due to the sun's recent huge corona explosion. The exact date... well, I can't seem to find it.