Post by buzzbomb on Mar 29, 2021 4:11:19 GMT
There was a prolonged geomagnetic storm related to sunspots that lasted from November 11 to 26 in 1882, related to solar cycle 12. The result was spectacular auroral effects seen all over the earth. Telegraph networks in various areas were put out of commission while the telegraph in the Western Union office in Chicago caught fire several times causing significant damage. The skies over St. Paul turned blood-red while the skies over Cheyenne, Wyoming were lit up like daylight. In Milwaukee, the magnetic force was so strong that it induced a current that caused electric lamps to spontaneously light up. At Fort Conger near the North Pole, astronomer Edward Israel and another man were observing the magnetic effects when one suddenly manifested so low over their heads that they actually ducked! They reported that it was incredibly bright. Electrical engineer, Elihu Thomson, wrote that he saw colored streamers rising from the horizon all around him to the zenith while great broad bands were gathered to the east and west.
But the strangest effect of all was observed by two astronomers--Edward Walter Maunder at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and John Rand Capron from his private observatory in Guildown, Surrey along the Hog's Back ridge on the evening of November 17. Along about 6 p.m., many witnesses saw what Capron termed an "auroral beam" traveling across the sky. It was huge and described by different witnesses as a spindle, beam, zeppelin, torpedo, or fish. It was a pale green color with a "dark nucleus." While Maunder and Rand tried to call it an effect of geomagnetism, other witnesses stated that it was a "definite body."
Maunder and Rand observed it to pass above the moon as it moved from horizon to horizon in 75 seconds with what appeared to be deliberate control.
Of this bizarre sighting Charles Fort wrote:
In the London Times, Nov. 20, 1882, the Editor says that he had received a great number of letters upon this phenomenon. He publishes two. One correspondent describes it as "well-defined and shaped like a fish … extraordinary and alarming." The other correspondent writes of it as "a most magnificent luminous mass, shaped somewhat like a torpedo."
Although Maunder believed he had observed a natural phenomenon (and he may have), he nevertheless wrote:
This "torpedo-shaped" beam of light was quite unlike any other celestial object that I have ever seen. The quality of its light, and its occurrence while a great magnetic storm and a bright aurora were in progress, seem to establish its auroral origin. But it differed very widely in appearance from any other aurora that I have ever seen.
But the strangest effect of all was observed by two astronomers--Edward Walter Maunder at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and John Rand Capron from his private observatory in Guildown, Surrey along the Hog's Back ridge on the evening of November 17. Along about 6 p.m., many witnesses saw what Capron termed an "auroral beam" traveling across the sky. It was huge and described by different witnesses as a spindle, beam, zeppelin, torpedo, or fish. It was a pale green color with a "dark nucleus." While Maunder and Rand tried to call it an effect of geomagnetism, other witnesses stated that it was a "definite body."
Maunder and Rand observed it to pass above the moon as it moved from horizon to horizon in 75 seconds with what appeared to be deliberate control.
Of this bizarre sighting Charles Fort wrote:
In the London Times, Nov. 20, 1882, the Editor says that he had received a great number of letters upon this phenomenon. He publishes two. One correspondent describes it as "well-defined and shaped like a fish … extraordinary and alarming." The other correspondent writes of it as "a most magnificent luminous mass, shaped somewhat like a torpedo."
Although Maunder believed he had observed a natural phenomenon (and he may have), he nevertheless wrote:
This "torpedo-shaped" beam of light was quite unlike any other celestial object that I have ever seen. The quality of its light, and its occurrence while a great magnetic storm and a bright aurora were in progress, seem to establish its auroral origin. But it differed very widely in appearance from any other aurora that I have ever seen.
