Wonders in the Sky (62 page)

Planet-like body passing in front of the sun: “Lichtenberg saw, with the naked eye, a great round spot of about one twelfth the diameter of the Sun, traverse a chord of 70° in 3 hours.”

 

Source: R. C. Carrington,
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
, 20, January 1860.

350.

4 March 1764, unknown location
Mystery satellite of planet Venus

The supposed satellite of Venus was observed again as the planet was an evening “star.” Its heliocentric longitude was 59° and its elongation was 30°. There were no less than eight observations of this object during 1764.

 

Source: “The Problematical Satellite of Venus,” in
The Observatory
7 (1884): 222-226.

351.

28 March 1764, unknown location
Mystery satellite of planet Venus

Another reliable observation of a planetoid object apparently orbiting Venus. The planet's heliocentric longitude was 98° and its elongation was 35°.

 

Source: “The Problematical Satellite of Venus,”
The Observatory
7 (1884): 222-226.

352.

May 1764, near Gotha, Germany: Unknown object

Single object, seen passing in front of the sun by Mr. Hoffmann. It was a large round spot of about one fifteenth the diameter of the Sun, crossing it slowly north to south.

 

Source: “Observations of the transits of intra-mercurial planets or other bodies across the Sun's disk,”
The Observatory
29 (1879): 135.

353.

13 June 1765, Mount Prospect, Inishannon, Ireland
Sky throne

“Last Monday Evening, between eight and nine o'Clock, an extraordinary Phaenomenon was seen from Mount-Prospect, near Inishannon, by several Gentlemen and Ladies. A most superb Throne appeared in the Northern Sphere, enclosed by a broad Circle of a Gold Colour, with a Lion in the front Protecting the Throne, which appearance lasted about half an Hour, and went off by slow Degrees. The Evening was very Serene, and the Sky all around appeared quite black. We are assured of the Truth of this Relation by People of Veracity.”

 

Source:
The Public Register
, or
Freemans Journal
(Dublin, Ireland) 15 June, 1765.

354.

8 September 1767, Perthshire, Scotland
Large luminous pyramid leaves damage in its wake

“We hear from Perthshire, that an uncommon phaenomenon was observed on the water of Isla, near Cupor Angus, preceded by a thick dark smoke, which soon dispelled, and discovered a large luminous body, like a house on fire, but presently after took a form something pyramidal, and rolled forwards with impetuosity till it came to the water of Erick, up which river it took its direction, with great rapidity, and disappeared a little above Blairgowrie. The effects were as extraordinary as the appearance.

“In its passage, it carried a large cart many yards over a field of grass; a man riding along the high road was carried from his horse, and so stunned with the fall, as to remain senseless a considerable time. It destroyed one half of a house, and left the other behind, undermined and destroyed an arch of the new bridge building at Blairgowrie, immediately after which it disappeared.”

 

Source: Letter from Edinburgh dated 8 Sept. 1767, in
The Annual Register
, 1767.

355.

4 January 1768, Copenhagen, Denmark
Unidentified planetoid orbiting Venus

Astronomer Christian Horrebow reported an observation of “a small light, that was not a star” which appeared to be in orbit around Venus. This object, named “Neith” by M. Hozeau of Brussels observatory, was never identified with certainty and was certainly not a natural satellite.

 

Source: H. C. F. C. Schjellerup, “On some hitherto unknown observations of a supposed satellite of Venus,”
Copernicus
2 (Dublin, 1882): 164-168.

356.

24 October 1769, Oxford, England
Hovering intruder

An object like a “house on fire” seen in the sky for an hour. It moved up and down with jets of gas, rumbled.

 

Source: John Swinton, “An account of a very remarkable Meteor seen at Oxford”,
Philosophical Transactions
, 60 (London, 1771): 532-535.