Judy Americk, age 13, of Edison, New Jersey or her question:

What is origin of the name aurora borealis?

Where could we find a suitable name for those unearthly, shimmer  ing glimmering lights of mystery? The problem was solved by reaching back into the never never world of ancient mythology. The Greeks and Romans worshipped the beauties and the forces of nature as kind of superhuman gods and goddesses and we borrowed the names of two of these characters.

Aurora was the Latin name for the glowing goddess of the dawn. Borsas was the Greek name for the blustery god of the north wind. Aurora Borealis, then, means the dawn like spectacles which sometimes appear in the far north and spread their glimmering fingers over the sky.