:: COMPARE ::
The short answer
The northern and southern counterparts, produced by the same magnetospheric process at opposite magnetic poles — one of two ovals. The popular claim that they are exact mirror images is not asserted by NASA or NOAA in the pages checked, so treat perfect mirroring as unverified.
Side by side
| Aspect | Borealis | Australis |
|---|---|---|
| Hemisphere | North | South |
| Named from | Boreas, north wind | Auster, south wind |
| Mechanism | Identical | Identical |
| Perfect mirror | Unverified | Unverified |
What each one means
An aurora is the glowing curtain of light in polar skies, produced when charged particles collide with atoms high in Earth's atmosphere. The older sense of the word is simply dawn — Aurora was the Roman goddess of it.
Full definition of Aurora →The contrast above sets out how Australis differs from Aurora on the points that actually matter.