Thursday, December 4, 2008

from The Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts, 1818

(page 133)

Luminous Meteor—On Sunday the 15th of February, at six o'clock in the evening, whilst a number of the inhabitants of the town of Agen, in France, were collected together to view the ascent of a baloon [sic], a luminous meteor similar to those called bolides appeared, and was observed by the whole of them. 

The sky was serene, the moon dimmed by clouds, and the wind at south-east; a brilliant flash of lightning occurred, and a twisted luminous train was seen, which ascended obliquely, and appeared to lengthen from one end only. This phenomenon disappeared, and was succeeded by a contorted long white cloud, extending north and south. 

In four or five seconds this cloud gathered together, and then slowly divided into two parts, one of which remained nearly stationary, whilst the other moved off towards the north. A dull rolling sound was then heard similar to the noise of a carriage. The time which elapsed between the appearance of the lightning and the thunder, or noise, was very nearly two minutes and thirty seconds. 

The cloud appeared at an angle of sixty-five degrees nearly, and was observed for more than a quarter of an hour. It moved from east to west, as did the other clouds, but more rapidly. 

No comments: