At most, people in these temperate regions would have seen the aurora only once or twice in their lives. The sun spews out charged particles traveling at a million miles per hour known as the solar wind. Particles which stream out of sunspots may be captured by the Earth's magnetic field and create the aurora. The bombardment of the solar wind would be deadly to life on Earth. Because these areas are somewhat cool compared to their surroundings, they look dark.
Sunspots are the visual indication of the process that sends charged particles into space.
Saturn's ultraviolet aurora viewed by Hubble Space Telescope. Unlike the Earth, Saturn's aurora is only seen in ultraviolet light. Ripples and overall patterns that evolve slowly, independent of planet rotation. The pink aurora features are dominated by atomic hydrogen, with some molecular hydrogen emissions. Magnetosphere is the space around the Earth pervaded by its magnetic field.