This usually happens near the north or south poles where there are weak points in our magnetic shield. Space storms that make it past the magnetosphere cause beautiful lights to shine and wave in the night sky. We call these the Northern lights. You can only see them if you live far up in the North. Not every planet is as lucky as Earth.
Scientists believe that Mars used to have a thick atmosphere.
But, Mars didn't have a magnetosphere to protect it from solar storms. Scientists think that solar winds blew away the water and gases in the atmosphere above Mars. Now Mars is a dry, barren planet with a thin atmosphere. Whenever there are many sunspots, there are also lots of solar flares. This year there will be many sunspots, solar flares, and gusts of solar wind.