Aura

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aura may refer to:

Science and Medicine

• Aura (symptom), a symptom experienced before a migraine or seizure.
• Aura (optics), an optical phenomenon.
• Aura (satellite), a satellite in the NASA Earth Observing System series, launched July 15, 2004.
• Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.

Geography

• Aura, Finland, a municipality in Finland.
• Aura River, a river in Finland.
• Aura, Norway, a river in Norway.
• Aura (woreda), a woreda or district in Ethiopia.

Music

• Aura (album), an album by the Finnish rock group CMX.
• Aura (Asia album), is an album by the progressive rock band Asia, first released in 2000.
• Aura (Miles Davis album), an album by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis (1989).

Places

• Aura, Bavaria, a place name in Germany
• Aura (Main-Spessart), a town in the district of Main-Spessart in Bavaria

Linguistics

• Aura, the old name for the personification of Finland.
• A plough in the Finnish language.

Culture

• Aura, a character from Flash Gordon
• The Aura, a 2006 film
• Aura, novel by Carlos Fuentes

Business

• The Electronics sub-division of Bowers & Wilkins, discontinued in 1997.

Software

• Aura (Animation Software), an animation software package.
• AURA (Automated Underwriting and Risk Analysis), A software program that automates life insurance underwriting
• AURA (Argos UNIX Retail Application), A software console used by high-street store Argos for management options

Others

• Aura (paranormal), A subtle field of luminous multicolored radiation surrounding a person or object as a cocoon or halo.
• Aura (cheese), a Finnish blue mold cheese.
• Aura (.hack), the name of an important character in the .hack//sign and .hack//Legend of The Twilight franchise.
• Saturn Aura, a mid-size car produced under the Saturn brand of American automaker General Motors.

[edit] Figurative meaning

Figuratively, an aura refers to the character of concepts, issues or phenomena surrounding a particular topic; for example, "The discussion had an aura of casualness."

The Marxist cultural critic Walter Benjamin also used the term "aura" to refer to the feeling of awe created by unique or remarkable objects such as works of art or relics of the past. According to Benjamin older cultures can generate auras around particular objects of veneration, while capitalist culture has the opposite effect, causing the decay of the aura due to the proliferation of mass-production and reproduction technologies.