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On Nov. 26, Vincent Ledvina, a space physics PhD student colloquially known as "The Aurora Guy," captured stunning footage of mesmerizing auroras gracing the skies of Fairbanks, Alaska. Its display, in shades of pink and green, earned it the affectionate nickname "watermelon aurora" after it went viral on the internet.

Auroras, such as the Northern and Southern Lights, are dazzling natural light displays that occur in polar regions, as a result of charged particles from the sun colliding with gasses in the Earth's atmosphere. When the solar wind interacts with the Earth's magnetosphere, it channels charged particles toward the polar regions. As these particles collide with atmospheric gasses, they transfer energy, causing the emission of gasses to emit colorful light.

The pink and green hues of the auroras in Fairbanks, Alaska was attributed to “high-energy nitrogen emissions during a substorm,” according to Ledvina on Twitter. In other words, the heightened solar radiation impacting the Earth led to this dazzling portrait of watermelon that decorated the Earth’s sky.