An aurora is one of nature’s most spectacular light shows: It looks like green or red curtains rippling across the night sky. When viewed from the ground, this colorful display might seem far away and disconnected from anything happening on Earth’s surface.

But while these beautiful displays are part of a much larger process known as “space weather”—changes in Earth’s space environment caused by activity from the sun—they’re closely connected to electric currents that can flow through the ground under your feet.

Space weather can create a spectacle in the sky, while also driving electric currents that can damage power grids and other technological systems on the ground. Space physicists like us want to understand how space weather can affect infrastructure on Earth.