The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1918-03-21
RECENT DISPLAY
Of THE AURORA
SAID TO HAVE BEEN MOST BRIL-
LIANT ON RECORD.
NATURE OF FORCE IS UNKNOWN
Official Report of Last Heavenly
Fireworks" by State MeteoroIo-
gist To Government Department
Record Of Other Shows.

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Nature, with her deep secrets, her
! hidden powers and wondrous specta-
!, Gle, defies science, The phenomena
are Haunted in the very faces of sci
entists, remain in evidence for hours
at time while workers experiment,
and still the cloud of the unknown
hangs over all.
i OF the phenomena of Nature which
have been observed most frequently,
and yet have remained unexplained,
is the aurora borealis. or the north
ern lights, which were seen in. all
parts of the United States recently.
Thousands of theories have been adj
vanced upon this luminous formation
and hundreds have been retracted.
i Professor Lemstrom. a Finnish
physicist, recently confirmed the the
DRY. of electrical discharge from the
sun to earth, which is the most wide
i ly accepted theory of the spectacle.
His experiment was conducted on
Mount oratunturi, in the north of
Finland, which he covered with net
work OF wires. He found that a.
true aurora was produced when he
sent an electric current from these
wires to the earth.
The AuroraI Crown.
Other theories include hypothesis
\ of reflected light from the sun
through the ice covered polar regions
of radiation from tn earth's surface,
similar to the ligth given from the
other planets in the heavens, and
many others But most of these
have proved false in recent years.
Generally a luminous bow appears
in the north; black segment usually
hangs below, its darkness forming a
contrast with the vivid white brill.
liant red of the bow, which darts forth
rays, extends, becomes divided, and
soon presents the appearance of
luminous fan, which fills the north
ern sky, mounts nearly to the zenith,
where the rays, uniting, form a
crown. The sky then looks like a
cupola of fire, the blue, the green,
, the yellow and the red yibrate in pal
pitating rays from the aurora. But
this spectacle lasts only few min
: utes. The crown ceases TO give out
; jets of light and gradually fades into
brilliant, diffused light that fills the
T heavens. Here and there light patches
resembling light clouds open and
close with incredible rapidity. They
, soon grow pale, everything fades
! away and becomes confused. The
aurora is in its death throes.
The Official Report of the Lights.
Following is the report of the au-
rora made by p Connor, meteorOlo-
gist of Kansas City, TO the United
: States Department Of Agriculture:
"The display was first observed at
1880 o'clock as faint arch. By
1855 o'clock a second arch appeared,
extending from the northwest to the
northeast But gradually extended
upward until at $50 o'clock the up
per one was at an altitude of Polaris
and was becoming very dim except
at each end Here it kept bright
until nearly 10 o'clock The color
ing at first was yellowish green with
: faint bands or streams of light pass
ing from one arch to the other and
! soon disappearing.
After 8 O'Clock the northern sky
! became pink and a little later red in
large patches, apparently having a
, drifting motion toward the southeast
; The glow was not steady; but dimin-
ished and increased at short inter
walls and separated into patches per-
j haps Is to 20 degrees apart Large
+, patches of the sky were very red at
1915 o'clock and beam of gray light
: extended from the north horizon TO
, the zenith. There was a slight trem-
/ of greenish streamers separating red
areas The last visible was a red
; dish glow in the northeast which dis
: appeared at 1910 o'clock.
The sky was perfectly clear dur
ing the display and no clouds follow
ed. Several shooting stars were OBJ
served between 9:45 and 10 O'Clock,
radiating from the northeast at an
altitude of about As degrees moving
directly westward"
Il Other Big Displays.
The appearance of the aurora bo-
reals was more vivid and more gen
eral in the southern latitudes this
year than ever before, records show.
The aerial phenomenon was seen as
far south as San Antonio, Augusta
and Atlanta, Ga. In 1917 display
was noted in August, reports having
been made from obseryatories from
the Missouri River to the Atlantic
Coast In 1916 Chicago was disturb
ed by series OF electrical storms.
which finally ended August rs in the
appearance OF dim aurora. Elec-
trical wires and telegraph lines were
| damaged in Kansas City by the
northern lights in 1915. Other APP
pearances Of the mysterious lights
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