Aurora

now, fair daughter of the dawn, Sprinkled with rosy light the dewy lawn. --Pope. I care not Fortune what you me deny: You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace, You cannot shut the windows of the day Through which Aurora shows her brightening face. --Thomson. Now to Aurora, borne by dappled steeds, The sacred gate of orient pearl and gold Expanded slow to strains of harmony. --Landor. Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights. Frequently after nightfall, a dark band may be seen in the northern sky, surrounded by an outer arc of streaming light. The farther the observer advances into the polar regions, and the colder the winter, the more brilliant this light becomes. Travelers tell us that these northern lights do much to dispel the darkness of the long arctic night. They are brighter even than moonlight. Hunters can see to pursue the seal and walrus; dog trains travel with security; at times ordinary print can be read without difficulty. The region of greatest intensity does not appear, however, to be at the north pole but to be a zone crossing the northern land masses, following closely the zone of greatest cold described elsewhere under ARCTIC REGIONS. Scientists have settled down to the conclusion that the aurora is an electrical light and that, though it streams far up into the heavens, seemingly filling space, it is in reality entirely within the earth's atmosphere. A corresponding phenomenon in antarctic regions is called the Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights. See Electricity