The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-13 00:00:00

COLNE VALLEY.

This branch line, which forms a junction with
the Eastern Counties at Chappell, near Sudbury, is
now completed, and the opening of the line for traffic
has been fixed for Monday next.

ANOTIIER AURORA BOREALIS.
A fresh derangement in the magnetic declination
was noticed the day before yesterday at the Im-
perial Observatory. The magnetic needle which
has been drawing towards the meridian since 20
minutes after one in the afternoon, suddenly turned
from it at half•past two. This deviation lasted a
very short time, and the needle afterwards turned
rapidly towards the North. The same phenomenon
was observed at the same hour at Lisbon: These
irregularities were soon explained by the appearance
of an aurora borealis in Paris that very evening
towards the N.N.W., which was also seen at
Copenhagen during a part of the night.
M, Coulvier-Gravier has communicated to the
Nomteur the following minute details of the
phenomenon, as seen at Paris. At half-past
eight, the aurora was ushered in by a whitish
streak ri,ing 25 degrees above the horizon, until
it reached Gamma and Delta Cassiopece. Fifteen
minutes later, other streaks appeared front Alpha
Cephei to 4 degrees west of Alpha Lyrm, an
extent of 30 degrees. At nine, all these rays
spread further, and their matter became as uni-
form as the cirri or curly clouds, which and seen
when the weather threatens rain. The aurora
bad, by a quarter to 10, invaded the sky from 3
deg. E. of Alpha Cygni to Epsilon Persei, the
summit of the arc reaching Gamma Cephei. At a
quarter past 10, numerous streaks extended from
Gamma Cephei to Beta Perser. The elevation of
the great arc was 34 deg., and its extent 60 deg.
In the course of the next quarter of an hour the
aurora faded nearly away, but at half-past 10 it re-
appeared as brilliantly as before from Cassiopea to
Zeta Persei. It soon after began to fade again, but
again broke out into light from 11 to half-past, the
streaks, as before, presenting the appearance of
rods of iron at a white heat, until, melting into a
mass, they changed their appearance to that of a
red heat. This time the arc extended from 4 deg. W.
of Alpha Lyra) to the feet of Gemini, 140 deg. in all ;
and its culminating point reached as far as 2 deg.
N. of the Polar Star, an altitude of 48 deg. At a
quarter to midnight, the aurora had faded away
for the last time, leaving only a few streaks
between Capella, Gemini, and the horns of
Taurus. The moon rose one minute before mid-
night, and the sky became overcast. At the time
of the greatest expansion of the aurora, its lesser
are was seen between N.N.W. and N. rising 2 or 3
deg. above the horizon, when the point of emanation
was perceived of a greenish white. A little before
and during the apparition, there were constant
flashes of lightning from the N.W., N., and N.N.E.
star was seen about the beginning
Ato drop e ffralinolmtghe region of Gamma Cephei, travers-
ing a space of 25 deg. One of the streaks of the
aurora deprived it for a moment of its lustre, which
it immediately resumed on issuing from behind the
streak. This M. Coulvier-Gravier regards b as a
confirmation of his theory, that the zone where
meteors burst into fire is situated above the zone
where auroras appear.