Why do moths end up circling around lights at night?

Answer: They keep their backs turned toward the brightest light

They keep their backs turned toward the brightest light ✓ — Flying insects keep their backs toward the brightest part of their view, normally the sky, to know which way is up. A nearby lamp hijacks that reflex: tilting their backs toward it sends them circling or flipping around it. High-speed filming showed this in 2024, overturning the older idea that moths navigate by the Moon.

They gain warmth and energy from the light — Moths don't feed on light or warm up enough from a lamp to matter; many circle cool LED lights just the same. They're trapped by their own steering reflex.

They mistake the lamp for a flower — Moths don't treat lamps as flowers; they find flowers mainly by smell and don't try to feed at lights. They get trapped because a nearby light scrambles their sense of which way is up.