From Latin 'aurōra' (dawn), PIE *h₂éwsōs (dawn goddess) — applied to polar lights in 1621 by Gassendi, who saw them as a 'northern dawn.'
A natural light display in the sky, caused by charged particles from the Sun interacting with the Earth's atmosphere, predominantly seen near the polar regions (aurora borealis in the north, aurora australis in the south); also used poetically for the dawn.
From Latin 'aurōra' (dawn, the goddess of the dawn), from Proto-Italic '*ausōs,' from Proto-Indo-European '*h₂éwsōs' (dawn, the dawn goddess). The PIE root '*h₂ews-' meant 'to shine,' particularly the reddish shine of early morning. The application to the polar light displays was made by Pierre Gassendi in 1621, who named the phenomenon 'aurora borealis' (northern dawn) because the shimmering lights
The PIE dawn goddess '*h₂éwsōs' is one of the most confidently reconstructed mythological figures in comparative religion. She appears as Latin Aurora, Greek Eos, Sanskrit Ushas, Lithuanian Aušrinė, and possibly Old English Ēostre — whose festival may have given its name to Easter. The same root gives