Jump To:

• Aurora
  Aurora

  noun

  the ancient Roman goddess of the dawn.
• aurora
  aurora

  noun

  an atmospheric phenomenon consisting of bands, curtains, or streamers of light, usually green, red, or yellow, that move across the sky in polar regions. It is caused by collisions between air molecules and charged particles from the sun that are trapped in the earth's magnetic field

Aurora

American  

[uh-rawr-uh, uh-rohr-uh] / əˈrɔr ə, əˈroʊr ə /

noun

• auroras,
  plural
• aurorae
  plural

1. the ancient Roman goddess of the dawn.

2. (lowercase) dawn.

3. (lowercase) a radiant emission from the upper atmosphere that occurs sporadically over the middle and high latitudes of both hemispheres in the form of luminous bands, streamers, or the like, caused by the bombardment of the atmosphere with charged solar particles that are being guided along the earth's magnetic lines of force.

4. a city in central Colorado, near Denver.

5. a city in northeastern Illinois.

6. a first name.

---

Aurora ¹ British  

/ ɔːˈrɔːrə /

noun

1. another name for Maewo

---

Aurora ² British  

/ ɔːˈrɔːrə /

noun

1. Greek counterpart: Eos. the Roman goddess of the dawn

2. the dawn or rise of something

---

aurora ³ British  

/ ɔːˈrɔːrə /

noun

1. an atmospheric phenomenon consisting of bands, curtains, or streamers of light, usually green, red, or yellow, that move across the sky in polar regions. It is caused by collisions between air molecules and charged particles from the sun that are trapped in the earth's magnetic field

2. poetic the dawn

---

aurora Scientific  

/ ə-rôr′ə /

• auroras
  plural

1. A brilliant display of bands or folds of variously colored light in the sky at night, especially in polar regions. Charged particles from the solar wind are channeled through the Earth's magnetic field into the polar regions. There the particles collide with atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, ionizing them and making them glow. Auroras are of greatest intensity and extent during periods of increased sunspot activity, when they often interfere with telecommunications on Earth.

2. ◆ An aurora that occurs in southern latitudes is called an aurora australis (ô-strā|||PRIMARY_STRESS|||lĭs) or southern lights. When it occurs in northern latitudes it is called an aurora borealis (bôr′ē-ăl|||PRIMARY_STRESS|||ĭs) or northern lights.

3. See also magnetic storm

---

Usage

What is an aurora? An aurora is a natural light display in the sky that is caused by particles from the sun interacting with a planet’s magnetic field. The most well-known aurora is the aurora borealis, the shimmering display of colorful lights that sometimes appears in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. The phenomenon is also commonly called the northern lights. The aurora that occurs in the Southern Hemisphere is called aurora australis or the southern lights. (The word borealis is Latin for boreal, which simply means “northern.” The word australis is Latin for austral, which simply means “southern.”)On Earth, auroras appear in many colors ranging from green and pink to red, yellow, and blue. Both the northern and southern versions can be called aurora polaris because they occur around Earth’s poles, but this term is not commonly used. Auroras are not exclusive to Earth and occur on every planet in our solar system except Mercury.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• auroral
  adjective
• aurorally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• aurorae
  plural
• auroras
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Aurora

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin aurōra “dawn, dawn goddess,” east

Explanation

An aurora consists of bands of light in the sky along the north and south poles. An aurora is a beautiful astronomical light show. If you look up at night and see bright bands of light, it's not an invasion by aliens: it's a natural, electrical phenomenon called an aurora. An aurora can happen at either of the Earth's magnetic poles, north or south. An aurora is considered one of the most gorgeous natural occurrences, and you’re lucky if you see one. The two types of auroras are called aurora borealis and aurora australis — which mean northern lights and southern lights, respectively.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Aurora aurora aurorae auroras

The natural phenomenon, known as the Aurora Borealis, is the result of increased solar activity.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Tesla plans to make its Semi driverless, while Aurora on Wednesday said it is on track to end the year with 200 driverless trucks in operation.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

At 3 p.m. on July 11, 2024, Schlamminger was scheduled to present the results at the annual Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements in Aurora, Colorado.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

Colorado health officials wanted to investigate a tuberculosis case at the Aurora ICE Processing Center near Denver, but have been refused entry and records.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

During a car trip to nearby Aurora, they “talked over the impossibility of our union....The reasons we both enumerated very calmly—and they seemed weighty indeed.”

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

A portion of those particles are channeled to Earth’s magnetic poles, and when the solar wind is particularly active, they become visible as the aurora borealis and aurora australis.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

The study shows that the planet's aurora drives a powerful cycle involving heat, winds, and electrical currents that can make Saturn appear to spin at different speeds depending on how it is measured.

From Science Daily ● May 29, 2026

Energy deposited by the aurora heats specific regions of the atmosphere.

From Science Daily ● May 29, 2026

A red aurora is rarer and harder to catch than green, but spectacular when it appears.

From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026

There are so many nervous-energy particles buzzing through the air, we might create our own aurora borealis.

From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein

The likely cause for this feature on solar system giants is aurorae, therefore, the research team surmised that they had uncovered that same phenomenon on W1935.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 17, 2024

The ionized region of the atmosphere, or ionosphere, is most famous as the home of aurorae, which occur when charged particles from the Sun slam into atoms and cause them to light up.

From Science Magazine ● May 12, 2023

But “the aurorae are always there when you observe an eclipse,” said Katherine R. de Kleer, a planetary astronomer at the California Institute of Technology and one of the authors of both studies.

From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2023

The main spacecraft would spend years flying around the planet, gathering observations on features such as the magnetic field that probably powers Uranus’s glowing aurorae.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 19, 2022

Careful records were taken to establish a relation between magnetic storms and aurorae, and a good deal of evidence was amassed to support the fact that auroral exhibitions correspond with periods of great magnetic disturbance.

From The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 by Sir Douglas Mawson

The CMEs cause beautiful auroras, and they can also affect life on Earth by causing geomagnetic storms that can knock down power grids and affect weather and communication satellites.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

He's since filmed the northern lights numerous times - he goes to Iceland once a month and leads tour groups there - and has photographed various auroras, eclipses and bioluminescence.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

When these particles collide with oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere, the atoms release energy as soft red light, producing rare auroras visible from the ground.

From Science Daily ● May 22, 2026

This may have pushed the region where red auroras form to much higher altitudes than scientists normally expect.

From Science Daily ● May 22, 2026

These would produce fabulous auroras, shimmering curtains of spooky light that would fill the whole sky.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson