When the sun's plasmic protons and electrons vortex along Earth’s magnetic fields, these particles light up the gases at the bottom of the magnetosphere funnel as if it were a neon tube display case.  Fairbanks, population 80K, becomes Bright Lights, Big City.

I always understood that the Earth's magnetosphere looked like this, happy and rotund, like a pumpkin.

Peter Reid, http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/Earths-magneticfieldlines-dipole.html#.VHeqJVfF9o8

When it turns out that our magnetosphere looks more like this due to the constant buffeting of the solar wind:

NASA Image from MSFC Space Plasma Physics http://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/exploring-the-planets/online/earth/img/magneto.gif	Stephen Steigman, 1978 Maxell Cassette Tape ad http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/blown-away-man/

Mercury, Venus, and Mars have negligible magnetospheres.  Some scientists suggest that the onslaught of solar CME storms were likely perps for our neighbors being stripped.  Our magnetosphere may be a very important thing indeed.  [23] The video below does a great job of showing how the magnetic field lines interact between the sun and earth.  The lines connect, stretch, and reconnect on the dark side of the planet--especially watch 3:10-3:40.  The reconnections cause the charged plasma particles to tumble into Earth's well, following the field lines, and land in our backyard.  Abrupt magnetic field reconnections are critical events for both the sun and the Earth.