Abstract
ON the evening of Friday, December 3, there occurred a very brilliant display of luminous night clouds in rather peculiar circumstances. During the earlier part of the evening the sky had been clear, and no indications of an aurora were observed. About 10.15 p.m. the sky became completely overcast quite suddenly, and it was noticed that this appeared to be by general formation of haze in situ, and not by the drifting of clouds. Almost immediately after this numerous patches of light cloud appeared, travelling with considerable velocity eastward. From numerous previous experiences it was at once apparent that these were not ordinary cloud forms, and the moon was not high enough to account for their extreme brilliancy. Careful examination with a hand spectroscope confirmed the surmise that they were luminous clouds, the green auroral line being very bright and sharply defined; on several of the brighter masses other lines were suspected, but not sufficiently well to assign any position. These observations were confirmed by Mr. W. Moss. At about 10.45 p.m. the clouds gradually became less frequent, and the sky became clear again almost as suddenly as it had been overcast.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
BUTLER, C. Luminous Night Clouds and Aurora Spectrum. Nature 82, 157 (1909). https://doi.org/10.1038/082157c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/082157c0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.