Flame-Like Rays over Hull

Transcripció

The aurora borealis, as Jane Loudon describes it in her account of the night sky over Hull on the twelfth of October, 1833, began with a broad, irregular band of vivid white light. It curved across the northern sky like a semicircle, or a rainbow. The band was bright enough to dim the fixed stars, which appeared bluish, while the cloud beneath seemed intensely black. From different parts of the arch, brilliant rays shot upward. Some were broad, others narrow, and some remained for a minute or more, like gigantic pillars of flame. Loudon also describes rapid waving motion and brisk flashes along the curve. She reports what observers saw; her book’s explanation is offered as a conjecture, not as a cause established for this particular display. The account leaves the eye with a quiet contrast: a pale, arching band above dark cloud, and sudden flame-like rays reaching into the night.