86 
NATURE 
[Mov. 23, 1882 
affected by the light of the moon, which was shining in the 
south, and below which it moved. The light of the rosy 
streamers, when first examined at 5h. 15m. with a small direct- 
vision spectroscope, gave two very distinct bright lines, one in 
the red (presumably near C), and the other in the green. There 
was a faint continuous spectrum towards the more refrangible 
end, but no traces of other lines. Afterwards, when the display 
was at its best, only the bright line in the green was observed, but 
it was much more brilliant than before, and could be traced in 
every part of the sky except in the south. It was weak in the 
zenith, but towards the north horizon it stood out with extraor- 
dinary distinctness, and was especially strong in the lenticular 
band seen at 6h. 5m. This line could be easily seen in the 
northern sky when all signs of the aurora had apparently passed 
away. At 7h. 45m. the glow assumed the form of a well-defined 
arch, extending from the north-east to the north-west horizon, 
and reaching an altitude of about 30°. It remained more or less 
distinct till Sh. 30m., after which time the light gradually dimin- 
ished, till at gh. the sky assumed its usual appearance. During 
the greater portion of the evening the sky was perfectly cloud- 
less. This display was certainly finer than that seen on October 
25, 1870, and though fewer bright lines were observed in its 
spectrum than on that occasion, the two which were seen were 
far better defined, and much more brilliant. 
Kempston, Bedford, November 18 THOs. GwyN ELGER 
On last Friday afternoon at 5.15 I observed in the north a 
magnificent auroral display. The moonlight mixed with the 
fading twilight was of course unfavourable to the brilliancy of 
such a }henomenon : notwithstanding which the auroral glare — 
suggestive of rose-coloured clouds, alternately intensifying and 
fading—was a very remarkable spectacle. A sharp frost 
supervened, C, RosE INGLEBY 
Valentines, Ilford, November 20 
A BRILLIANT auroral display was observed here last night. 
I first noticed the pale auroral arc at 5h. 30m., the top of the 
arc at that tine being just below Merak and Phecta in Ursa 
Major. At 5h. 4om. red streamers were seen in the north-west 
and shortly afterwards in the north-east, and then at intervals 
pale streamers were observed allalong the arc. For about five 
minutes a double are was visible, a band of dark sky intervening 
between the two, which combined to form one broad are, and 
remained so to the end of the display. At 6h. there was a very 
apparent waning of the streamers, and at 6h. 30m. they had 
entirely disappeared. The auroral-arc remained until about 
gh. 30m. With a Browning’s miniature spectroscope I saw the 
green line very distinctly, while the red streamers appeared to 
show a very faint red band. Perhaps it is worthy of notice that 
the sky, which to the naked eye was dark, showed on examina- 
tion the characteristic spectrum. C. H. ROMANES 
Worthing, November 18 
ANOTHER splendid display of aurora was seen here last 
evening, commencing at 5.10 with a column of rose-coloured 
light in the north-west, which, rapidly becoming diffused, spread 
upwards to the zenith, a similar glow being visible in the ea-t. 
In the northern horizon a double arch of white light extended 
from beyond Capella to the north-west, from time to time shift- 
ing its position and increasing in altitude till the two arches had 
melted into one, from which rosy streamers went upwards. But 
lovelier and more wonderful even than this display was a shaft of 
intense whice light, which, just as the chimes of the old church 
clock were dying away at 6, passed rapidly like a flying arch 
across the heavens at an altitude of about 30 degrees, and 
vanished below the southern horizon. After 6.45 the rosy tin’s 
had gradually subsided, and at 8 a pale light in the north was all 
that remained, but I have been told that at 12 and 3 a.m. coloured 
streamers were again visible. E. BROWN 
Further Barton, Cirencester, November 18 
THE fine display of the aurora borealis was seen here Friday 
evening from a little before 6 o’clock, The sky was clear, and 
the moon, seven days old, was well up. The chief features of 
the aurora were the two patches of deep pink light, one in the 
west, in the constellation Hercules, and the other in the east, 
betweeno Capella and the Pleiades ; connecting these two patches 
was an arc of lighter tint passing between the two Bears. At 
6.10 a beam extended from this arc to the left of Cassiopea, 
towards the zenith; at 6.20 this had disappeared, and another 
very distinct lay through the body of Ursa Minor, right to the 
zenith, more over the concentration, as it were, of pink light 
near Perseus in the east had disappeared, and the light ended at 
Capella. At 6.40 Capelia and B Aurigz were clear of it. The ~ 
patch in the west did not disappear, but grew fainter. At 6.50, 
while watching the display, a magnificent meteor fell slowly 
from the body of the Little to the tail of the Biz Bear, leaving a 
short red tail there, At 7 the pink tint of the auroral arc-had almost 
disappeared, giving place to one of phosphorescent light, extend- 
ing from near where Jupiter was rising in the east, through the 
body of Ursa Major, to below Hercules in the west. This grew 
fainter, till at 7.30 it was scarcely noticeable. But at a little 
before 11 p.m. there extended a narrower and brighter line of 
phosphorescent light, slightly arched from 10° to 15° above the 
horizon, From this, at 11.20, the streamers began to radiate 
towards the zenith, alternately forming and disappearing, some 
stretching to the zenith, some only half way. At 11.45 repeated 
flashes of light swept up along the streamers, happily likened by 
one of your correspondents to the flapping of a flag in a breeze. 
At times a long streamer would appear broken off from the arc 
of light, and fade away. At 12 the streamers had vanished, 
leaving only the phosphorescent light near the horizon, though 
now and then a streamer would form. At 12.30 a pink tint 
appeared in the north-east, and more streamers formed till 12.45, 
when the light began gradually to fade away, till at 1 a.m. 
nothing of the display was to be seen, The day had been over- 
cast, wind north, but towards evening it had cleared ; during the 
night it was freezing ; the barometer, at 29°6, was rising ; the 
moon had set at 11 p.m., and the sky, free from clouds, was all 
that could be desired in which to witness this splendid display 
of northern iights. FRANK STAPLETON 
Oxford, November 19 
I BEG to hand you an account of the extraordinary apparition 
of Friday evening la-t, November 17, as seen at Clevedon, 
during a brilliant rose-coloured aurora. The time was about 
6.15 p.m. There rose suddenly, through the haze in the east, a 
beam of light, at an angle of some 60° with the horizon. It 
crossed the cloudless sky rather below the moon, and sank in the 
west, occupying about eighty seconds in the transit. The trajec- 
tory was much flatter than that of the stars, &c., but was at 
right angles to the meridian, which was crossed at an approxi- 
mate altitude of 22°. 1 e.timated the length of the beam at 
35°, and the breadth at the middle to be 3°; from whence it 
tapered gadually to a point at each end. The colour was uni- 
form throughout—a very pale yellowish white, without corusca- 
tion or change ; and there was no indication of a trail, or of any 
sort of atmospheric disturbance. The impression conveyed to 
me was that the beam was stationary in space, and comparatively 
near, and that we were being carried past it by the rotation of 
the earth. The major axis lay on the apparent path, but in the 
earlier and latter parts of the course it was much foreshortened ; 
and as the western horizon was approached, a formation of a 
similar character, perhaps 7° northward, and running on a 
parallel track, was visible for several seconds before both were 
lost i1 the trees. This second object was also noticed by others 
whose view westward was less interrupted. I watched the whole 
evening without seeing any tendency to a repetition of the phe- 
nomenon, The sky remained cloudless, with the temperature at 
the freezing point. ‘There was no wind ; and the aurora, which 
centinued off and on until past eleven o’clock, at no time threw 
out any considerable rays or streamers. The strange visitor 
caused great commotion among the many who were out of doors 
looking at the aurora, some of them fearing that the supposed 
runaway comet was coming into co!lision with the moon, then 
half an hour past the meridian, and relieved when it passed 
below it. I had, however, a much better corroboration of the 
altitude above given, a careful observer who was with me 
placing a rod in the direction of the suppo-ed meridian passage. 
The angle closely agreed with my estimate. We now require to 
know at what place south of this the beam was seen to cross the 
moon’s disc, for computing the actual distance and position. 
Many of your readers will not have failed to note that a splendid 
aurora again coincides with rapid and striking changes in the 
configuration of a gigantic spot in the sun, With a 39-inch 
achromatic, I was able oa the same afternoon to observe those 
changes from hour to hour, on a scale I never before witnessed. 
STEPHEN H, SAXBY 
East Clevedon Vicarage, Somerset, November 20 
“- WHILE watching the grand display of aurora on Friday night 
from our roof, at about 6h. 7m., my wife and I saw a strange 
gleam of light rising above a bank of cloud on the eastern 
