Abstract
April 20, 1897. Aurora Australis. A remarkable display of aurora was observed in the South Indian Ocean in lat. 47½° S. It began at 6.30 P.M. with a diffused light; horizontal flashes soon spread and flared in every direction, increasing in length and brilliancy, until at 7.30 P.M. they were shooting across the sky to within 30° of the northern horizon. Cones and circles of light travelled rapidly over the whole sky, flashing beams of intense brilliancy from one to the other. This continued until 8.30 P.M., when an arch of bright green light fading off into yellow formed over the southern horizon, rose rapidly to a high altitude, and was followed by similar arches in regular sequence, until there were six distinct arches, their apices being from 10° above the southern horizon to 60° above the northern horizon. They were formed of narrow vertical bands of light from 5° to 20° deep, bright green and yellow at their upper edges, and of a rosy hue at their bases. At 9 P.M. a brilliant circle formed round the zenith, composed of narrow bands of light, pendant overhead and having a rotary motion, producing the effect of the vertex of an electrical cyclone. The display lasted until 9.45 P.M.
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Historic Natural Events. Nature 125, 620–621 (1930). https://doi.org/10.1038/125620b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/125620b0