Airglow
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Airglow is a faint emission of light by a planetary atmosphere. In the case of Earth's atmosphere, this optical phenomenon causes the night sky never to be completely dark, even after the effects of starlight and diffused sunlight from the far side are removed. This phenomenon originates with self-illuminated gases and has no relationship with Earth's magnetism or sunspot activity.
Airglow over Auvergne, France
Yellow, green and red bands of airglow along Earth's limb as seen from space.
Types and layering of airglow above Earth
Airglow as pinkish orange sodium line at just below one hundred kilometers and a faint green line, at the edge of space and the lower edge of the thermosphere (invisible), sandwiched between green and red bands of aurorae streching over several hundred kilometers upward and the pink mesosphere, white and blue stratosphere, as well as orange troposphere afterglow and silhouettes of clouds at the bottom.
Optical phenomenon
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Optical phenomena are any observable events that result from the interaction of light and matter.
A 22° halo around the Moon in Atherton, California
A solar halo as seen from 41° south latitude
A circumzenithal arc over Grand Forks, North Dakota
The Belt of Venus over Paranal Observatory atop Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile