The whole dome of night sky was awash with color: cascades of yellow-green and blushes of crimson fanning from a darker point high overhead. As they fell in broad rays, they shifted and changed in brightness, sometimes intense in one place, then cool, then hot. It was like looking up into the heart of a flower of glorious light whose petals rippled in a breeze that could not be felt—a breath from beyond this planet.

That aurora (Latin for "dawn") lit up the night at my home in the Scottish Highlands more than a decade ago, but to this day I can picture its colors, shapes, and movements. The show peaked for less than an hour, but its tonal themes lingered