What Do They Look Like?     Aurora's are beautiful displays of color that can stretch across the sky in a variety of shapes and colors. The colors can range from yellow, to blue, to purple or red and travel across the sky with great dancing movement or at an eerie ghost like pace or seem not to move at all. No two auroras are alike and the shape, color and vividness can differ depending on the time and your location in the world. Here are a few terms used to describe the shapes of some auroras. Arcs and Curtains - A curved length of light that goes across the sky is called an arc. When the bottom of the arc has ripples as shown, than is called a curtain which can be caused byu auroral movement of "dancing".   Photos by Jan Curtis Corona - Rayed arcs that are seen from directly below so the beams “spread out” in all directions. www.ursa.fi/~koski/ aurora/aurora.htm Rays – The vertical beams seen in an aurora that look like sunlight rays and can be hundreds of kilometers long! Auroral veils – Featureless aurora light that just seem to light the sky up without any real defining arcs. (rays) Both photos by Jan Curtis

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