Types of Auroral Phenomena
Types Of Auroral Phenomena is a structured science dataset with 15 entries. Its fields include Type, Hemisphere, Altitude (km). The source values are preserved as a structured reference table.
Every row is shown below and is also available as CSV, JSON, or Excel.
Dataset details
- Table scope
- All 15 rows
- Fields
- 6 columns
- Source
- Community curated
- Data updated
- Apr 9, 2026
Included fields: Type, Hemisphere, Altitude (km), Typical Color, Cause, and 1 more.
The table contains every record in this dataset; the same records are available in each download format.
Preview observations
- Altitude (km) range
- 90 to 500
- Across 15 preview rows
- Hemisphere groups
- 6 distinct values
- Across 15 preview rows
Useful for
- Comparing Type, Hemisphere, and Altitude (km) across science entries
- Building reference tables, charts, or analyses from 15 downloadable records
Type↕ | Hemisphere↕ | Altitude (km)↕ | Typical Color↕ | Cause↕ | Notes↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aurora Borealis | Northern | 100 | Green, pink, purple | Charged solar wind particles exciting oxygen and nitrogen | Best seen near magnetic poles; Norway, Iceland, Alaska, Canada |
Aurora Australis | Southern | 100 | Green, red, purple | Same as borealis, around south magnetic pole | Visible from Tasmania, southern New Zealand, Antarctica |
STEVE | Northern and Southern | 450 | Purple and mauve ribbon | Sub-Auroral Ion Drift heating; hot gas flowing at 6 km/s | Discovered by amateurs in 2016; not a classic aurora |
Picket Fence | Northern and Southern | 110 | Green vertical bars | Wavelike particle precipitation; often accompanies STEVE | Looks like a glowing picket fence beside STEVE ribbon |
Diffuse Aurora | Both | 100 | Faint green glow | Low-energy electron rain over wide areas | Often unnoticed; covers much of polar sky |
Discrete Aurora (Arcs) | Both | 110 | Bright green arcs | Focused electron beams from magnetotail | Sharp bright bands stretching across sky |
Rayed Aurora | Both | 120 | Green with red tops | Magnetic field lines channeling particles | Vertical rays or curtains that ripple like fabric |
Coronal Aurora | Both | 120 | Radiating green and red | Rays seen in perspective straight overhead | Looks like light radiating from a single zenith point |
Pulsating Aurora | Both | 100 | Green patches | Electron precipitation with 5-15 second period | Patches blink on and off across the sky |
Proton Aurora | Both | 120 | Faint red/ultraviolet | Energetic protons instead of electrons | Mostly invisible to naked eye; detected in UV |
Red Aurora | Both | 300 | Deep red | High-altitude oxygen emissions during strong storms | Rare; seen during major geomagnetic storms at lower latitudes |
Blue/Purple Aurora | Both | 90 | Blue-purple | Nitrogen molecule emissions below 100 km | Usually at the base of very active auroras |
Black Aurora | Both | 100 | Dark gaps in aurora | Regions where electrons are deflected upward | Voids within a glowing aurora curtain |
Aurora on Jupiter | Both (Jovian) | 500 | Ultraviolet/blue | Particles from Io's plasma torus in Jupiter's magnetosphere | Powered by planet's rotation, not solar wind; seen by Hubble |
Aurora on Mars | Both (Martian) | 120 | Ultraviolet green | Solar wind hitting residual crustal magnetic fields | Detected by MAVEN and ExoMars TGO |
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