Aurora

Definition of Aurora

Au`ro´ra
n.1.The rising light of the morning; the dawn of day; the redness of the sky just before the sun rises.
2.The rise, dawn, or beginning.
3.(Class. Myth.) The Roman personification of the dawn of day; the goddess of the morning. The poets represented her a rising out of the ocean, in a chariot, with rosy fingers dropping gentle dew.
4.(Bot.) A species of crowfoot.
5.The aurora borealis or aurora australis (northern or southern lights).
Aurora borealis
A luminous meteoric phenomenon, visible only at night, and supposed to be of electrical origin. This species of light usually appears in streams, ascending toward the zenith from a dusky line or bank, a few degrees above the northern horizon; when reaching south beyond the zenith, it forms what is called the corona, about a spot in the heavens toward which the dipping needle points. Occasionally the aurora appears as an arch of light across the heavens from east to west. Sometimes it assumes a wavy appearance, and the streams of light are then called merry dancers. They assume a variety of colors, from a pale red or yellow to a deep red or blood color.
Aurora australis
is a corresponding phenomenon in the southern hemisphere, the streams of light ascending in the same manner from near the southern horizon.

Related Words

alpenglow, arch aurora, aurora australis, aurora borealis, aurora glory, aurora polaris, break of day, brightening, chanticleer, cockcrow, cocklight, crack of dawn, crepuscule, dawn, dawning, dawnlight, day-peep, daybreak, daylight, dayspring, first brightening, first light, foredawn, glow, half-light, light, merry dancers, morn, morning, morning twilight, northern lights, peep of day, polar lights, polar ray, prime, southern lights, sunrise, sunup, the small hours, twilight, vestibule of Day
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