This second video below explains the phenomenon of northern lights and how they actually work:

The aurora borealis or northern lights is one of the most spectacular natural displays on the planet. Theories about its origins have been debated for centuries and common misconceptions persist that the aurora is the sun’s rays scattered off ice crystals in the high atmosphere. In truth, the light is created more than 100km above Earth’s surface as high speed electrons and protons ejected from the sun in a solar flare or coronal mass ejection collide with air molecules in the upper atmosphere. The charged particles from the sun excite air molecules which then de-excite by emitting light. The display is most common around the north and south poles because the Earth’s magnetic field deflects the solar wind from the equator to the poles. Here the magnetic field dips towards the Earth’s surface, channeling the charged particles into the atmosphere.

We hope you enjoy the video and get the chance to see these phenomena on person!

thanks to sciencealert.com for the great info

#MondayMotivation May your electrons and protons be fully charged, so you are as bright as Aurora today #YearInSpace https://t.co/nM4ZwRTLxg

— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) August 17, 2015