Full-time Students with valid IDs $20. Please call (202) 633-3030 to purchase tickets.

What could be more beautiful on a cold winter night than catching a glimpse of the ethereal northern lights dancing across the sky? This stunning phenomenon is embedded in the mythology of many cultures and has been characterized as everything from dancing spirits to God’s anger.

Yet no one suspected a connection with the sun until just over 100 years ago.

Solar physicist Paal Brekke, who has extensively studied the sun and aurora borealis, delivers a multimedia presentation, including film clips on the myths and modern science behind the northern lights. He explains the science behind the phenomenon that was given its scientific name by Galileo (it means dawn of the north) and discusses how solar particles are captured by Earth’s magnetic field and guided to the magnetic poles.

Brekke, formerly with the European Space Agency’s team at the Goddard Space Flight Center, is a senior adviser at the Norwegian Space Center in Oslo.

CODE: 1J0-505