The following account I have received from a lady at Brühl near Cologne, July 26 — 8.22. A large fireball of scarlet fire almost as large as a harvest moon just sailed along and upwards, at a varying but mostly very rapid rate, until, at a great height, it remained for some minutes almost or quite stationary; then after some uncertain movements rose again, and rising, became smaller, until it finally disappeared. Everyone who saw it seemed petrified with amazement.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
From Report of the Annual Meeting, British Assn. for Advancement of Science, 1853
(Page 188)
1846. July 25. A workman near Gloucester, returning home about 10 p.m., saw a meteor of considerable magnitude. It was of the size and colour of the moon, and she compared its light to that of day. According to her account, it seemed as though it proceeded downwards from an opening cloud, and was instantly withdrawn into the cloud again; but probably this retrograde motion may have been a deception. It was in the N. or N.E. at a considerable altitude.
From Report of the Annual Meeting, British Assn. for Advancement of Science, 1853
(page 188)
1847. March 19. Extract of a letter from a lady.
On the evening of Friday, March 19, A. and I left Albion Road (Holloway) about half-past 8. A. called my attention to what we thought a fire-balloon ascending slowly. It was in the west, a little inclining to the south. As it passed on slowly to the west its intense brilliance convinced me that it was not an earthly thing. When it appeared to be over Hampstead (but as high in the heavens as the sun is at 6 o'clock in the evening when the days are longest), it shot forth several fiery coruscations, and whilst we were gazing at it, broke into an intensely radiant cloud. This cloud sailed on slowly, and we never took our eyes off it. At this time the stars were shining. When we were in the gravel path opposite to Highbury Terrace, the cloud was rather higher in the heavens, and more to the W. It cast a most brilliant light on the houses there, brighter than moonlight, and unlike any light I ever saw. It appeared of a blue tint on the bricks, but there was no blue light in the cloud itself.
Suddenly over the radiant cloud appeared another cloud still more brilliant, but I now felt so awe-struck that I cannot say precisely how long they hung one over the other, before the most wonderful sight happened. Perhaps they remained so for two or three minutes, when from the upper cloud a small fiery ball (about the size that the largest planets appear to the naked eye) dropped into the lower cloud, and was instantly absorbed. Soon after another similar ball apparently four or five times the size of the two preceding fell from one cloud to the other in the same wonderful way. Shortly after this both clouds disappeared, apparently absorbed in the heavens, though I did see a few particles of the brilliant clouds floating about for a minute or so. Presently the moon appeared considerably to the northward of the place where the clouds had hung. We then saw the bright light across the heavens which you told me was a zodiacal light, which lasted for more than an hour.
Monday, December 15, 2008
from The American Journal of Science and the Arts, 1820
(page 335—Account of a gelatinous meteor, by Rufus Graves, Esq., formerly Lecturer on Chemistry at Dartmouth College; communicated by Professor Dewey.)
On the evening of the thirteenth day of August, 1819, between the hours of eight and nine o'clock, was seen in the atmosphere, at Amherst, Massachusetts, a falling meteor or fire ball, of the size, as represented by an intelligent spectator, of a man's hat, or a large blown bladder, of a brilliant white light resembling burnished silver.
The position of this spectator being in a direct line of the street where the luminous ball appeared, and at the distance of not more than five hundred yards, with the sight bounded by the buildings, there could be no deception relative to the direction that it took. Its altitude, at its first discovery, was two or three times the height of the houses; it fell slowly in a perpendicular direction, emitting great light, till it appeared to strike the earth in front of the buildings, and was instantly extinguished, with a heavy explosion. At the same instant, as appeared from the report, and from the ringing of the church bell, an unusually white light was seen a few minutes afterwards, by two ladies in a chamber of Mr. Erastus Dewey. While they were sitting with two candles burning in the room, a bright luminous circular spot suddenly appeared on the side wall of the chamber near the upper floor in front of them, of the size of a two feet stand-table leaf. This spectrum descended slowly with a tremulous motion nearly to the lower floor and disappeared.
In critically examining the chamber where the foregoing phenomenon was observed, it appeared that the light must have entered through the east front window in a diagonal direction, and impinged on the north wall of the chamber back of the ladies, and thence reflected to the south wall in front of them, forming the circular spectrum, with the coorresponding tremulous motion of the meteor, and descending with it in the same direction, according to the fixed laws of incidence and reflection.
Early on the ensuing morning, was discovered in the door yard of the above mentioned Erastus Dewey, at about twenty feet from the front of the house, a substance unlike any thing before observed by any one who saw it. The situation in which it was found, being exactly in the direction in which the luminous body was first seen, and in the only position to have thrown its light into the chamber, (as before remarked,) leaves no reasonable doubt that the substance found was the residuum of the meteoric body.
This substance when first seen by the writer was entire, no part of it having been removed. It was in a circular form, resembling a sauce or sallad dish bottom upwards, about eight inches in diameter, and something more than one in thickness, of a bright buff colour, with a fine nap upon it similar to that on milled cloth, which seemed to defend it from the action of the air. On removing the villous coat, a buff couloured pulpy substance of the consistency of good soft soap, of an offensive, suffocating smell appeared; and on a near approach to it, or when immediately over it, the smell became almost insupportable, producing nausea and dizziness. A few minutes exposure to the atmosphere changed the buff into a livid colour resembling venous blood. It was observed to attract moisture very readily from the air. A half-point tumbler was nearly half filled with the substance. It soon began to liquify and form a mucilaginous substance of the consistence, colour, and feeling of starch when prepared for domestic use. The tumbler was then set in a safe place, where it remained undisturbed for two or three days; and when examined afterwards, the substance was found to have all evaporated, except a small dark coloured residuum, adhering to the bottom and sides of the glass, which, when rubbed between the fingers, produced a fine ash-coloured powder without taste or smell; the whole of which might have been included in a lady's thimble.
The place where the substance was first found was examined, and nothing was to be seen but a thin membranous substance adhering to the ground similar to that found on the glass.
This singular substance was submitted to the action of acids. With the muriatic and nitric acids, both concentrated and diluted, no chemical action was observed, and the matter remained unchanged. With the concentrated sulphuric acid a violent effervescence ensued, a gaseous body was evolved, and nearly the whole substance dissolved. There being no chemical apparatus at hand, the evolving gas was not preserved, or its properties examined.
On the evening of the thirteenth day of August, 1819, between the hours of eight and nine o'clock, was seen in the atmosphere, at Amherst, Massachusetts, a falling meteor or fire ball, of the size, as represented by an intelligent spectator, of a man's hat, or a large blown bladder, of a brilliant white light resembling burnished silver.
The position of this spectator being in a direct line of the street where the luminous ball appeared, and at the distance of not more than five hundred yards, with the sight bounded by the buildings, there could be no deception relative to the direction that it took. Its altitude, at its first discovery, was two or three times the height of the houses; it fell slowly in a perpendicular direction, emitting great light, till it appeared to strike the earth in front of the buildings, and was instantly extinguished, with a heavy explosion. At the same instant, as appeared from the report, and from the ringing of the church bell, an unusually white light was seen a few minutes afterwards, by two ladies in a chamber of Mr. Erastus Dewey. While they were sitting with two candles burning in the room, a bright luminous circular spot suddenly appeared on the side wall of the chamber near the upper floor in front of them, of the size of a two feet stand-table leaf. This spectrum descended slowly with a tremulous motion nearly to the lower floor and disappeared.
In critically examining the chamber where the foregoing phenomenon was observed, it appeared that the light must have entered through the east front window in a diagonal direction, and impinged on the north wall of the chamber back of the ladies, and thence reflected to the south wall in front of them, forming the circular spectrum, with the coorresponding tremulous motion of the meteor, and descending with it in the same direction, according to the fixed laws of incidence and reflection.
Early on the ensuing morning, was discovered in the door yard of the above mentioned Erastus Dewey, at about twenty feet from the front of the house, a substance unlike any thing before observed by any one who saw it. The situation in which it was found, being exactly in the direction in which the luminous body was first seen, and in the only position to have thrown its light into the chamber, (as before remarked,) leaves no reasonable doubt that the substance found was the residuum of the meteoric body.
This substance when first seen by the writer was entire, no part of it having been removed. It was in a circular form, resembling a sauce or sallad dish bottom upwards, about eight inches in diameter, and something more than one in thickness, of a bright buff colour, with a fine nap upon it similar to that on milled cloth, which seemed to defend it from the action of the air. On removing the villous coat, a buff couloured pulpy substance of the consistency of good soft soap, of an offensive, suffocating smell appeared; and on a near approach to it, or when immediately over it, the smell became almost insupportable, producing nausea and dizziness. A few minutes exposure to the atmosphere changed the buff into a livid colour resembling venous blood. It was observed to attract moisture very readily from the air. A half-point tumbler was nearly half filled with the substance. It soon began to liquify and form a mucilaginous substance of the consistence, colour, and feeling of starch when prepared for domestic use. The tumbler was then set in a safe place, where it remained undisturbed for two or three days; and when examined afterwards, the substance was found to have all evaporated, except a small dark coloured residuum, adhering to the bottom and sides of the glass, which, when rubbed between the fingers, produced a fine ash-coloured powder without taste or smell; the whole of which might have been included in a lady's thimble.
The place where the substance was first found was examined, and nothing was to be seen but a thin membranous substance adhering to the ground similar to that found on the glass.
This singular substance was submitted to the action of acids. With the muriatic and nitric acids, both concentrated and diluted, no chemical action was observed, and the matter remained unchanged. With the concentrated sulphuric acid a violent effervescence ensued, a gaseous body was evolved, and nearly the whole substance dissolved. There being no chemical apparatus at hand, the evolving gas was not preserved, or its properties examined.
from Meteorological Essays, 1855
(page 38)
At the Beuzeville station, on the railroad from Paris to Havre, during a thunderstorm which took place on the 17th of May, 1852, at five in the afternoon, there were observed some very curious facts, which I insert from a letter of M. Lalande, written from the account given by M. Maillot, the station master.
"I had left my wife to replace me at my post at the telegraph, and had gone to the goods' shed on the other side of the inclined plane, for the purpose of hastening the loading of a waggon to be attached to the mixed train which was to ascend the plane at 6 h. 18 m. At this moment I saw in the southeast, advancing towards the place where I was, a luminous globe, resembling the mimic bomb shells used in the representation of battles. I called out to one of the factors that he might enjoy the sight, and thus he as well as myself saw this luminous ball, which we expected to pass over our heads, suddenly stop and disappear, just as it was above the telegraph wires, sixty feet from us. At the same time the lightning fell, as we afterwards learnt, in the churchyard of Beuzeville, which would lead me to believe that the kind of zigzag which appeared to drive the luminous globe towards us was itself the ordinary striking lightning or thunderbolt. The storm afterwards passed on with increased violence to Criquetotlez-Neval, where the hail did much damage."
At the Beuzeville station, on the railroad from Paris to Havre, during a thunderstorm which took place on the 17th of May, 1852, at five in the afternoon, there were observed some very curious facts, which I insert from a letter of M. Lalande, written from the account given by M. Maillot, the station master.
"I had left my wife to replace me at my post at the telegraph, and had gone to the goods' shed on the other side of the inclined plane, for the purpose of hastening the loading of a waggon to be attached to the mixed train which was to ascend the plane at 6 h. 18 m. At this moment I saw in the southeast, advancing towards the place where I was, a luminous globe, resembling the mimic bomb shells used in the representation of battles. I called out to one of the factors that he might enjoy the sight, and thus he as well as myself saw this luminous ball, which we expected to pass over our heads, suddenly stop and disappear, just as it was above the telegraph wires, sixty feet from us. At the same time the lightning fell, as we afterwards learnt, in the churchyard of Beuzeville, which would lead me to believe that the kind of zigzag which appeared to drive the luminous globe towards us was itself the ordinary striking lightning or thunderbolt. The storm afterwards passed on with increased violence to Criquetotlez-Neval, where the hail did much damage."
Sunday, December 14, 2008
from A Philosophical and Mathematical Dictionary, 1815
(page 68)
As the moon has on her surface mountains and valleys in common with the earth, some modern astronomers have discovered a still greater similarity, viz, that some of these are really volcanoes, emitting fire, as those on the earth do. An appearance of this kind was discovered some few years ago by Don Ulloa in an eclipse of the sun. It was a small bright spot like a star near the margin of the moon, and which he at that time supposed to be a hole or valley with the sun's light shining through it. Succeeding observations, however, have induced astronomers to attribute appearances of this kind to the eruption of volcanic fire; and Dr. Herschel has particularly observed several eruptions of the lunar volcanoes, the last of which he gives an account of in the Philos. Trans. for 1787, April 19, 10h. 6m. sidereal time.
"I perceived," says he, "three volcanoes in different places of the dark part of the new moon. Two of them are either already nearly extinct, or otherwise in a state of going to break out; which perhaps may be decided next lunation. The third shows an actual eruption of fire or luminous matter: its light is much brighter than the nucleus of the comet which M. Mechain discovered at Paris the 10th of this month."
The following night he found it burnt with greater violence; and by measurement he found that the shining or burning matter must be more than 3 miles in diameter; being of an irregular round figure, and very sharply defined on the edges. The other two volcanoes resembled large faint nebulae, that are gradually much brighter in the middle; but no well-defined luminous spot was discovered in them. He adds, "the appearance of what I have called the actual fire, or eruption of a volcano, exactly resembled a small piece of burning charcoal when it is covered by a very thin coat of white ashes, which frequently adhere to it when it has been some time ignited; and it had a degree of brightness about as strong as that with which a coal would be seen to glow in faint day-light.
In a letter by M. Lalande, it is said that, the 13th inst. from 7 to 9 in the evening, Dom. Nouet, one of the astronomers of the Royal Observatory, perceived, in the unenlightened part of the moon, what Dr. Herschel has called a volcano, like a star of the sixth magnitude, or one of the cloudy ones, the brightness of which increased from time to time, as if by flashes. Other astronomers have perceived it, and M. de Villeneuve had seen it before, on the 22d of May, 1787. We cannot therefore doubt of the existence of this volcano in the moon. Dr. Herschel saw it the 4th of May, 1783, and particularly the 19th of April, 1787. In the eclipse of the 24th of June, 1778, M. d'Ulloa, a well-known Spanish astronomer, had seen on the dark disc of the moon, a bright point; and in the total eclipse of 1715, certain curious observers had perceived some flashes of light.
There is no sensible atmosphere in the moon, it is true, and chemists may dispute about the name of volcanoes being given to such apparent eruption; but the name after all is of no consequence, and we must certainly subscribe to Dr. Herschel's opinion. This volcano is situated on the north-east part of the moon, about three minutes from the moon's border, towards the spot called Helicon, marked No. 12 in the figure of the moon in Lalande's astronomy. On the next day, March the 14th, Jupiter had been eclipsed by the moon. This rare and curious phenomena has been observed by all astronomers.
from A Treatise on Atmospheric Electricity, 1830
(Page 30)
During the month of July last we had the pleasure of witnessing this very curious phenomenon, in the marshy grounds between Hertford and Stevenage, when on the mail, coming from London northward. The day had been dense and sultry, and toward evening a stratum of vapour hovered over the marshes of the valley. On the right two ignes fatui started up suddenly, and at some distance apart; the appearance was altogether that of a solid ignited nucleus, diffusing brilliant radii around it. Their locality, as far as could be determined, seemed to be clumps of rushes. At one period there appeared to be a flitting flickering motion, somewhat resembling that of a hovering insect; but this was not continued. The phenomenon lasted several minutes, and both were suddenly extinguished, the one after the other.
It seemed to us difficult to conceive of electricity being presented under the attendant phenomenon with which these were accompanied, and the entire features were more analogous to those of an insect powerfully illuminated; but whether some insect allied to the tribe termed Gryllus gryllotalpa, or mole cricket, has the power, under peculiar circumstances, as the Rev. Dr. Sutton has conjectured, of evolving light, seems not altogether determined: this phenomenon might be adduced to plead in its favour, thus the scolopendra electrica is occasionally luminous, when excited.
We find that a gentleman observed a similar phenomenon to that described, in low marshy ground, after a sultry day and a dense evening fog; it had also to his vision all the appearance of a solid ignited body. We have also witnessed a lambent flame gliding on the surface of a stagnant lake, but are of opinion this last is altogether distinct from the other, and depends on different principles.
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