Watch a beautiful aurora borealis

This magnificent aurora borealis was captured on tape in Troms, Norway, on Monday night.

The aurora borealis, aka the northern lights, occurs around the north magnetic pole (at the south magnetic pole it's called an aurora australis) when highly charged electrons from solar winds interact with elements in the earth's atmosphere, such as oxygen and nitrogen. The color of the aurora depends on which atom is struck, and the altitude of the meeting -- this yellow-green color typically comes from a reaction with oxygen.

The northern lights in Norway are some of the brightest in the world. They are most visible at a time called magnetic midnight, which, since the north pole and the north magnetic pole are not exactly aligned, comes about one hour before 12 o'clock.