Definition of aurora in English

WordNet

Noun Plural: auroras
aurora - an atmospheric phenomenon consisting of bands of light caused by charged solar particles following the earth's magnetic lines of force
		atmospheric phenomenon a physical phenomenon associated with the atmosphere
		aurora australis, southern lights the aurora of the southern hemisphere
		aurora borealis, northern lights the aurora of the northern hemisphere
aurora - (Roman mythology) goddess of the dawn; counterpart of Greek Eos
aurora - the first light of day; "we got up before dawn"; "they talked until morning"
		dawn, dawning, morning, first light, daybreak, break of day, break of the day, dayspring, sunrise, sunup, cockcrow
		aurorean, auroral characteristic of the dawn; "a dim auroral glow"
		time of day, hour distance measured by the time taken to cover it; "we live an hour from the airport"; "its just 10 minutes away"

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Wiktionary

aurora (Noun)
An atmospheric phenomenon created by charged particles from the sun striking the upper atmosphere, creating coloured lights in the sky. It is usually named australis or borealis based on whether it is in the southern or northern hemispheres respectively.

Webster DictionaryWebster's Unabridged Dictionary 📘

aurora (n.)
The rising light of the morning; the dawn of day; the redness of the sky just before the sun rises.
aurora (n.)
The rise, dawn, or beginning.
aurora (n.)
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.
aurora (n.)
A species of crowfoot.
aurora (n.)
The aurora borealis or aurora australis (northern or southern lights).

Chambers DictionaryChamber's 20th Century Dictionary 📕

aurora
aw-rō′ra, n. the dawn: in poetry, the goddess of dawn.—adjs. Aurō′ral, Aurō′rean.—adv. Aurō′rally. [Acc. to Curtius, a reduplicated form for ausosa; from a root seen in Sans. ush, to burn; cog. with Gr. ēōs, dawn, hēlios, the sun; Etruscan, Usil, the god of the sun.]

Electrical DictionaryThe Standard Electrical Dictionary 💡

aurora
A luminous display seen in the northern heavens in the northern hemisphere, where it is the Aurora Borealis, and seen in the southern heavens in the southern hemisphere, where it is called Aurora Australis, or indifferently for either, the Aurora Polaris. It takes the form of pale luminous bands, rays and curtains varying in color. Near the poles they are very numerous. A French commission observed 150 auroras in 200 days. Their height is variously estimated at from 90 to 460 miles; they are most frequent at the equinoxes and least so at the solstices. There is a secular variation also, they attain a maximum of occurrence every maximum. There is also a period of 60 years, coincident with disturbances in the earth's magnetism. Various attempts have been made to account for them. They have a constant direction of arc with reference to the magnetic meridian (q. v.) and act upon the magnetic needle; in high latitudes they affect telegraph circuits violently. There is a strong probability that they represent electric currents or discharges. De la Rive considers them due to electric discharges between the earth and atmosphere, which electricities are separated by the action of the sun in equatorial regions. According to Balfour Stewart, auroras and earth currents.(q. v.) may be regarded as secondary currents due to small but rapid changes in the earth's magnetism. The subject is very obscure. Stewart treats the earth as representing the magnetic core of an induction coil, the lower air is the dielectric, and the upper rarefied and therefore conducting atmosphere is the secondary coil. This makes the aurora a phenomenon of induced currents. Then the sun may be regarded as the instigator of the primary changes in the earth's lines of force representing the primary of an induction coil.
interacting with the earth's magnetic field causes aurora. Neither electrons (1897) nor protons (1920) were known in 1892. The Soviet satellite Luna first measured the solar wind in 1959. Even today increased understanding of solar and auroral phenomenon continues.]
Austral Pole. The north pole of the magnet is thus called sometimes in France; the austral pole of a magnet is the one which points towards the north polar regions As unlike magnetic poles attract each other, it is but rational to call the north-seeking pole of the magnet the south or Austral Pole. In the same nomenclature the south pole of a magnet, or the south-seeking pole, is called the Boreal Pole.

Wikipedia

Aurora is like fire that sometimes comes to the sky at the cold areas of Earth. In fact, the Roman Emperor Tiberius thought a city was on fire, so he sent fire engines to that city. The city on fire was actually a city against a backdrop of a red aurora.

An aurora can happen in the Arctic, around the North Pole ("Aurora borealis" - Dawn of the North) or in the Antarctic around the South Pole ("Aurora australis" - Dawn of the South). An aurora can often be seen for a long way, many hundreds of kilometers or miles.

Auroras can only be seen at night because their light is not as strong as the light of day.

However they can happen during the day as well.

Aurora happens when the Sun sends off stuff we call particles to the empty space. These particles are charged, which means they have a lots of electricity. These particles flying in space is called "solar wind". Sometimes solar wind hits Earth. Earth has a protection shield of energy around it. This is called the "magnetic field". The magnetic field wards off solar wind. At the cold area (polar area) magnetic field is less powerful, and it can not protect Earth from the solar wind. There the particles of solar wind hits the particles in air. In this hit the electricity gets away and we see that as light.

Sami people say Aurora is a tail of a Fox.
aircraft
The Aurora (supposedly called the SR-91 Aurora) is a possible surveillance aircraft. No one knows if it ever existed. Supposedly, it was meant for trying out hypersonic flight, or speeds above 5 times the speed of sound. The name "Aurora" was used for the aircraft because in 1985, it appeared on an American military funding list. It might have been to replace the SR-71 Blackbird.

Aurora sightings.

In 1989, a man named Chris Gibson was working on an oil rig when he saw a KC-135 Stratotanker, two F-111 Aardvarks, and a triangle-shaped craft refueling. He did not know what it was. During 1991 in Southern California, there were a lot of sonic booms being heard. There was also a pulse coming out of the engine. The most recent sighting was in 2006.
mythology
Aurora was the ancient Roman equivalent of Eos. Eos was the ancient Greek goddess of the dawn. "Aurora" is the Latin word for dawn.

Aurora renews herself every morning at dawn and flies across the sky. She announces the morning's arrival. She has a brother and a sister. Her brother is the sun, and her sister is the moon. She also has many husbands and four sons, one for each cardinal direction: North, East, South, and West.

Aurora is comparable to Eos in Greek mythology and to Ushas in Hindu mythology.

One of her lovers was Tithonus. Aurora asked Zeus to grant immortality to Tithonus. However, she failed to ask him for eternal youth. As a result, Tithonus ended up aging eternally.

In Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" (i.i) Montague says of his lovesick son Romeo

The asteroid 94 Aurora was named after her.