Abstract
A PHENOMENON was visible here this evening which I think deserves to be recorded. We have an uninterrupted view of the western sky, and about a hundred pairs of sharp eyes are available, so that any unusual sunset is pretty certain to be noticed. Solar halos are comparatively common occurrences, and I have come to the conclusion that lunar rainbows are not so rare as is believed, but the “pillar of fire” which has been visible here for at least forty minutes is the most brilliant sight I or any of my oldest friends have ever witnessed. It was first observed at 6 p.m. just after the sun had disappeared, and was exactly vertical over the sun. The colour was at first silvery (resembling a searchlight) and later a golden yellow, the width equal to the sun's diameter, and the length 18° to 20°. A few light clouds seemed to pass behind it. Some observers noted a flickering and also a swaying motion, but this may have been an optical effect. At about 6.30 the colour had changed by gradations into a deep crimson-red, and for the next ten minutes it gradually became deeper in colour and shorter, disappearing at 6.40.
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KNIGHT, W. The Zodiacal Light and Sun Pillars. Nature 65, 439 (1902). https://doi.org/10.1038/065439b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/065439b0
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