Abstract
THE bright loop shown in G. F. Seabroke's drawings of the aurora on January 31 at 6.30 and 6.35 p.m., as seen at Rugby, remind me of a striking feature seen here. If it was the same, a comparison of the observations will give some idea of the height of the phenomenon. As seen here at about 6.241/2 this feature was the most conspicuous part of the aurora; it was a somewhat pear-shaped bright patch, with a region along the middle of it not quite so bright. Its edge was 10° above the moon, at Venus, Jupiter, β and η Pegasi; its pointed end being low down, and a good deal further to the right. At 6.261/2 Venus was in the midst of its left end, and Jupiter quite outside. The moon was 5° below the lower edge. The dusky region gradually darkened, and finally opened through the right end of the patch, which became united by a rather serpentine bright band to a somewhat similar, but partly red, bright patch rising up in the east-north-east. This bright band formed the southern border of the aurora. At 6.311/2 the position of the central line of this band, including the western bright patch which now formed a loop in it open to the north, was about as follows:—At or near the moon, one-third of the way from η Ceti to Venus, ζ Cygni (the junction of the patch with the new band), α Pegasi I think, β Trianguli, α Tauri, and below Procyon.
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BACKHOUSE, T. The Aurora of January 31; Position of Auroral Rays. Nature 23, 410 (1881). https://doi.org/10.1038/023410b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/023410b0
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