The Aurora is a beautiful ligh display composed of a myriad of colour, sometimes flashing and changing rapidly. It is caused by the Sun. During a period of high activity on the sun (revealed by an increased number of sunspots), streams of charged particles are ejected from the Sun at immense speeds, some of which head straight for the Earth. These particles interact with the Earth's magnetic field causing this fantastic display. This stream of particles can vary in intensity but is always present, known as the Solar Wind. Other planets have auroral displays, like Jupiter and Saturn. The aurora will not be visible to everyone. It depends on how strong the storm is and your location. The further North you are in the Northern hemisphere and further South in the Southern hemisphere, the more chance you have of seeing it. In the southern hemisphere it is called the Aurora Australis and in the northern hemisphere it is called the Aurora Borealis. You do not need a telescope to see it and it is quite easy to photograph. I shot some good pictures using ISO 400 Film. Having never taken pictures or even seen it before, I tried exposures from around 5 seconds up to 30 seconds and the results came out well. This shot was taken through a standard 50mm Lens on the Canon AE-1.