NATURE S MYSTERIES AURORAS BEHIND THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN LIGHTS ELISA PETERS Britannica Educational Publishing IN ASSOCIATION WITH ROSEN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
4 Auroras are beautiful They are natu ral displays of colored light that sometimes appear in the night sky They occur mainly in the northernmost parts of the Northern Hemisphere and the southernmost part of the Southern Hemisphere Auroras in the Northern Hemisphere are called the northern WHAT ARE AURORAS Since it is in the Northern Hemisphere this colorful aurora is the aurora borealis
5 lights or aurora borealis In the Southern Hemisphere auroras are called the southern lights or aurora australis Auroras are named for Aurora the Roman goddess of the dawn Auroras take many shapes and forms with arcs and rays of colored light being the most common The light may also look like shimmering curtains bands waves or clouds An aurora constantly changes shape as the light moves across the sky The light also may brighten and fade A hemisphere is one half of Earth The Northern Hemisphere is the half north of the Equator and the Southern Hemisphere is the half south of the Equator VOCABULARY These lights over the Australian island of Tasmania are the aurora australis
