Auro/ra Borealis

[L,.] or Northern Lights. Luminous appearances which are seen in the northern quarter of the heavens. A’ muddy appearance of the sky in the direction of the north is the first indication of the approach of the aurora. This gradually resolves itself into a band of a dusky hue, in shape like part of a circle, stretching from the north towards the west, with its ends resting on the horizon, and surrounded by a continuous luminous arch of transparent white tinged with green. The arch is in a state of continual movement, either rising and falling or swaying from east to west, and starting from it, streams of light of brilliant and and the magnetism of the earth, this being shown by the fluctuation of the magnetic needle during an auroral display, and also by the fact that the top of the luminous arch is found to be near the magnetic meridian. The aurora has been frequently observed to occur at both magnetic poles of the earth simultaneously. Aurorae are more frequent in North America