Light Tourists

Perpetual darkness and frigid temperatures don’t usually pack in the tourists. But when you throw in some shimmering curtains of light in the sky, they show up in bunches.
In the last decade or so, the aurora borealis — the northern lights — has become big business. Tourists flock to Scandinavia, Iceland, Alaska, and similar sites to see it.
The aurora is formed by the interplay between Earth’s magnetic field and the solar wind — a flow of charged particles from the Sun. The magnetic field funnels the particles into the upper atmosphere, where they zap atoms and molecules, causing them to glow.
The aurora forms in a narrow ring around the magnetic north pole. Most of the time, the ring stays far north. So the aurora is best viewed from far-northern latitudes — places where the sky stays dark for weeks at a time.
Tourist bureaus, lodges, and others are playing up the aurora. They offer package deals that include sleigh rides, dog sledding, snowmobiling, and other activities. Resorts hav