Auroral bands are similar to arcs but with a folded or uneven lower edge. Auroral coronae are rayed arcs or bands seen from below so that the light appears as sunbeams spraying out in all directions. Auroral patches are small areas of light that look like a cloud in the night sky. Often they appear to flash or pulse, disappearing and reappearing over a short period of time. Auroral rays are thin beams or shafts of auroral light that hang vertically above the observer.
Auroral veils are large featureless clouds of auroral light.
Veils may cover the entire sky with a pale white light. But in exceptional cases, the veils may appear blood-red in colour. Such displays have inspired myths and legends among northern peoples, may of which portend disaster. Today most of us live too close to the overwhelming light pollution of human civilization to see auroral displays with any regularity. And many of us consider the aurora as a winter night phenomenon, but this is only because of the longer and darker nights and clearer skies during the winter season that make the faint light more visible.