Tall ship with sails down in the frozen polar ocean above which there is a display of the Northern Lights. Auroras, also known as northern and southern (polar) lights or aurora (singular: aurora), are natural light displays in the sky, usually observed at night, particularly in the polar regions. They typically occur in the ionosphere. They are also referred to as polar auroras. This is a misnomer however, because they are commonly visible between 65 to 72 degrees north and south latitudes, which would place it in a ring just within the Arctic and Antarctic circles.