fAtiASELENiE- SEEN AT GOSPORT. S99 



To t?ie Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal. 



Gosport, May 2G, 1823. 



From eight till ten o'clock p.m. on the 23d of May, two 

 paraselenes appeared alternately, one on each side of, and both 

 the same altitude from the horizon as that of the moon. The 

 eastern paraselene was the brightest; it had colours more vivid 

 about it, and continued in sight some time after the other was 

 extinct, perhaps from being on the side of the moon that was 

 most vaporous. No stationary cloud was visible in or near 

 either of them ; but a light red corona, one degree in diameter, 

 surrounded the moon nearly the whole time of their continu- 

 ance, which indicated the presence of haze, or lofty attenuated 

 cirrostratus that in some measure obstructed the lunar ligiit. 



At a quarter past 9 o'clock those rare phaenomena exhibited 

 trains of light that were turned from the moon, and terminated 

 in points or conical shapes; the eastern one was 12 degrees in 

 length, and the western about seven. At a quarter before 10, 

 both i\\eparasclencEa.Y>'^eaYed in circular forms at the same time, 

 without trains, and were tinged with light red, light yellow, 

 and pea gi'een ; at this time also, a taint lunar halo presented 

 itself, and measured upwards of 44'' in diameter, when each 

 of the paraselenes just without the halo was 22° 40' distant 

 from the moon's centre. By half-past 10 the sky was com- 

 pletely overcast with ciamdostratus clouds, and light rain fell 

 towards the morning. These were the finest and the most 

 brilliant mock-moons we have ever noticed. They are formed 

 on the same principles as parhelia, and like them indicate a 

 humid air and approaching wet, particularly when accom- 

 panied by the halo. Yours, &c. WiljlIAM Burney» 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AT GREAT YARMOUTH, 



Mr. C. G. Harley has favoured us witli meteorological ob- 

 servations for the first four months of the year. He informs 

 us that his thermometer is placed about 12 or 15 feet above the 

 level of the sea, and 5 feet from the ground, in a northern 

 aspect completely sheltered from the eastern or western sun ; 

 nothing in front nearer than 24 feet, and that a building of 

 black flint: of course, no reflected heat. Time of observation 

 from half-past 11 to 12 a.m. This in his situation he considers 

 as giving a result approximating nearly to the mean heat ot 

 that time during which the sun is above the horizon. 



___^ Days. Thermona. Water. 



1823. ''Dry. Wet. E. SE. sT SW. \V. NW. N. NE.'^Low. High.Mcd. In. 



Jan. 18 13 14 2 5 2 4 2 2 25 4C 



Feb. 4 24 2 3 4 7 6 4 () 2 32 50 



March 7 24 2 3 3 2 10 3 4 4 33 54 



April Itt 12 J 4 I ':. 341 i! 43 fi3 



