t 



Gannett's Account of an Aurora Borcdlk 



137 



ards 



like smoke driven by the wind. Its direction was tov 

 the zenith; and in a little time, crossing the meridian, it 

 joined a column of fainter light; which formed in the 



west soon after 



foremcntioned column 



nng or zone was at first fiint, except where it be 



ued to grow b 



D 



St. This 

 2;an ; but 

 till the stars, which were ob- 



able through it, were much obscured 



At 



o 



minutes 



past ten, i first saw it ; when its brightness began to di 



mmisli, 

 tremity 



d its situation was as follows. Its eastern ex- 

 is very near the east point. The northern limit 



crossed the meridian 



20° S. of the zenith. Its 



tremity was bounded by Aldebaran, whose heidit was 5 



Its 



breadth 



eased ^adually from the east and west limits 



meridian height, where it was 5° as determined by 



stars on the Lion 



hip, which were near the meridian, and 



bounded the zone on the north and south. Denel was on 

 the south limit. A star of the second magnitude in the 

 Lion's shoulder, was just within the northern limit. Vinde- 

 miatrix appeared in the middle of the zone, and Pollux, a 



little 



^ 



thout the northern limit, 



It moved slowly towards 



the south, gradually decreased, and disappeared entirely by 

 11 o'clock. 



In the Transactions of the Eoyal Society in London, is ait 

 account of a similar phenomenon, observed in Geneva, by Mr. 



Cramer, in 1730. The zone was terminated 



two parallel 



arches ; and was diametrically opposite to the middle of the au- 

 rora borealis. The aurora and zone seemed much nearer one 

 another in the horizon, than in the top. Supposing this dif- 

 ference entirely optick, and the paralleHsm of the two circles 



S real, 



• 



■m 



• 



