Auro'ra borea'lis

i. e., northern daybreak; popularly called northern lights. A luminous meteoric phenomenon, witnessed 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.—Auro'ra austrā'lis, a corresponding phenomenon in the southern hemisphere; the streams of light ascending in the same manner from near the southern horizon.