The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-20 00:00:00

~~ft!

~/

.••••,v_

~"\~

_,- • - i ----fll
EXTRAORDINARY ELECTItiC:„._- -- )
PHENOMENON. \ ~.‘ \\,- .--"' i 1;S.
Just as our first edition was going to press. List 'night— `--
we were called to witness the grandest and•o9tolikgtlittit.llANl
display of atmospheric phenomena ever seen in this lati-
tude. The "aurora," instead of shinirg in or gleaming
from the north, was illuminating the south-western
quarter of the heavens, and from thence gradually
stretching eastward in a wide and well-defined zone.
From this mass of light brilliant coruscations shot
towards the zenith; by and by they became of a fiery
red colour; and when the display seemed at its height, '',.
a point near the zenith was vacant, and from it ran vary-
ing rays of a deep rich red colour shot out to the east and
west with occasional coruscations towards the mass of
white light in the south. Ere long this mass of
white light glided along round the circle of the horizon
until at last the "heavens seemed on fire," and from
every point vivid stra arns of light, mingled v ith the red
rays, met at the zenith. We have seen the whole at-
mosphere covered with the aurora borealis, but any-
thing so grand as the appearance of the heavens at .this
moment to which we refer (about half past nine o'clock),
we never beheld. All this time the v ind blew strong,
and at the moment when the lines of light were most dis-
tinctly directed to the zenith it blew aim.st a hurricane.
As the brilliancy of the phenomenon faded, the electric
light became more diffused in the whole atmosphere, the
most intense point still being west and by south. Tho
converging (or diverging) point seemed at Chesterfield
to be very near, but rather to the south of the zenith.
The comparison of this point with that observable in
other localities will be of interest, as determining the dis-
tance of the electric streams from the earth.
This morning the sky is cloudy. Wind moderate.---.
Derbyshire Courier of Saturday.
AURORA BOREALIS AT LOWESTOFFE.--.WS learn
from a correspondent that there was a splendid Aurora
Borealis seen at Lowestoffe, on the evening of Friday,
from eight until ten o'clock. The wind had been blow-
ing fresh from
.the west and west by north during
the course of the afternoon, and the sky had been over-
cast; but at six o'clock the sky was clear, and at eight
there were observed in the northern parts of the heavens
luminous streams of fluid shooting from the west to the
north-eastern horizon. Ursa Major and the other
northern constellations were rendered almost invisible,
except stars from the first to the third magnitude, by its
brilliancy. At twenty minutes before nine its appear-
ance was like the agitated ocean, and its swift-
ness was surprising, passing directly overhead.
At twelve minutes past nine o'clock its colour was
like crimson striped with orange and other shades, pre-
senting the appearance of a large tri-coloured banner
for five or six minutes in the north-eastern part of the
heavens; the brightness in the western continued until a
quarter before ten o'clock. A brilliant meteor or star
passed through Taurus close to Aldebaran, some small
ones passed down the western part; several bands of a
crimson shade were seen, one on Orion. Towards eleven
o clock the phenomenon gradually subsided, and disap-
peared by the time of the moon's rising, eighteen
minutes after eleven o'clock. The wind was north-west
and clear; the barometer fell during the day. At its
greatest luminosity, vessels from three to four miles dis-
tance could be distinctly seen.
AURORA BOREALIS.—Some remarkable and singu-
larly beautiful meteoric phenomena of the above descrip-
tion were visible here and elsewhere on Friday night.
The atmosphere was somewhat obscured by clouds,
which, perpetually varying in form and density, so far
from detracting from the effect of the appearance,
rather increased its grandeur and beauty. About
eight o'clock the wind began to blow in strong fit- ,4_
ful gusts from the north and north-west. About nine
o'clock a lurid gleam streaked the horizon in the
latter quarter, seeming to be upheaved by a bank
of cloud or darkness till, flashing more and more
brightly, it attained an elevation of about thirty five
degrees. Here, after a short time, it changed its cha-
racter. One part of it became a faint blue tint, and shot
up rays in the usual manner of the aurora borealis to-
wards the zenith. From the western point a sort of lu-
minous red cloud arose, which looked not unlike a column
of smoke when strongly illuminated by a bright flame.
This appeared to be carried by the wind on the edge of
a long straggling cloud, which floated slowly towards
the south. Shortly afterwards the whole of the southern
part of the heavens, to the height of about thirty
degrees, was illuminated by a bright steady light, similar
to moonlight. Broken masses of cloud were now rapidly
drifted over the whole atmosphere, and a spectacle of
uncommon splendour ensued. Every part of the heavens
behind the thin clouds seemed to be brilliantly illumi-
nated. In some places the light flashed at intervals,
and in others, over the whole south, for instance,
it was steady and of uniform intensity. The latter
was of a faint blue or a greenish hue, but in the zenith
and towards the north and west it broke forth change-
ably in flashes of red, flame colour, and yellow. The
clouds appeared in many places at intervals like masses
of vapour, behind which bright fires were burn-
ing, and in a large circle overhead, as well as in the
north-west, the tints were continually changing both in
colour and in the extent and degree of their luminosity.
We had an opportunity of watching these varying phe-
nomena till nearly eleven o'clock, when the light began
gradually to die away. We perceive by the Manches-
ter and Preston papers that similar appearances were
visible in those districts. The Preston Pilot, of Satur-
day, says the aspect of the heavens there was " awfully
grand." The Manchester Guardian says, " The auroral
lights were spread over the greater part of the sky ;"
and again, " We do not remember ever to have seen the
auroral light so extensively diffused over the face ofthe
heavens as on this occasion."—Liverpool Albion of this
day.

'A TTERSA LL'S-TILIS EVENING.

SIX O'CLOCK.
LIVERPOOL STEEPLE CHASE.
5 to 2 agst Proceed
6 to 1 agst Alfred
12 to 1 agst St. Leger
12 to I agst Wolverhampton
12 to 1 agst Victim
20 to 1 agst Doctor
20 to 1 agst, Equinox

CHESTER CUP.
40 to:1 agst Cossack--taken
66 to 1 agst War Eagle—taken
66 to 1 agst "Tatman Platoff colt
66 to 1 agst Blucher
66 to 1 agst Bon Mot
66 to 1 agst Ellerdale
66 to 1 agst Fugleman
66 to 1 agst The Tartar
DERBY.
4 to 1 agst Flying Dutchman
7 to 1 agst Tadmor
16 to 1 agst Osterley
40 to 1 agst The Knout
50 to 1 agst Bernadotte
OARS.
6 to 1 on the field