Hi Melissa! Still photos of the aurora borealis are very beautiful, but they don't show how dynamic the aurora are. The patterns in the aurora are always changing and moving in response to variations in the Earth's magnetic field and the electrical currents in the Earth's ionosphere. There are different types of aurora, such as diffuse aurora, discrete aurora, pulsating aurora, and flickering aurora. Some of the different structures we see in the discrete aurora are curls and spirals, rays, and corona. The colors in the aurora all come from emission lines of the gases in the Earth's atmosphere. The most common color seen in the aurora is a green emission line produced by oxygen atoms. The red color in the aurora can come from another emission line produced by oxygen atoms. Nitrogen molecules can produce both red and blue light. The combination of the red and blue emissions produced by nitrogen can result in a pinkish color. Every display of the northern lights is a little bit different in both color and form. I think that's what makes studying it so interesting! I helped test particle detectors for a rocket that is going to be launched in Alaska to study the aurora. You can read about the rocket by clicking the "Blogs" tab at the top of the page. Kris