Wonders in the Sky (75 page)

9 March 1848, Oxford, Wytham Park, England
Unidentified celestial body

Single unidentified object reported by Mr. Symonds.

 

Source:
Report of the eighteenth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (year 1848)
(London, 1849): 10.

442.

4 September 1848, Nottingham, England
Slow celestial object

At 8:59 P.M. Mr. Lowe observed an unidentified object from Highfield Observatory. The bright star-like source moved from Eta of Antinoüs to Pi of Sagittarius. It covered this distance in no less than 45 seconds, much too slow for a meteor. Its intensity was estimated at six times the brilliance of Jupiter.

 

Source:
Report of luminous meteors of the British astronomical association
, 1849, quoted by Flammarion in
Bradytes
, op. cit.

443.

18 September 1848, Inverness, Scotland
High velocity objects

Two large, bright lights that looked like stars were seen in the sky. Sometimes they were stationary, but occasionally they moved at high velocity.

 

Source:
The Times
, 19 Sept. 1848.

444.

5 February 1849, Deal, Kent, England
Two dark objects

Two dark objects seen crossing the disk of the sun by an observer named Brown.

 

Source: E. J. Lowe, “Meteors, or falling stars,”
Recreative Science
1 (1860): 130-8, at 138.

445.

13 February 1849, Reims, France
Star moving in the sky with sudden accelerations

Skilled amateur observer Coulvier-Gravier observed an unusual “star” at 7:30 P.M. It was a 3rd magnitude object first seen in the vicinity of Delta Cephei. It moved through a course of 20 degrees in the sky, with sudden accelerations and stops (“saccades”).

 

Source: Rémi Armand Coulvier-Gravier,
Recherches sur les Météores
(Paris: Mallet-Bachelier, 1859), 292.

446.

12 March 1849, location unknown: Sighting of Vulcan

Astronomer Sidebotham reports an object crossing the disk of the sun. This is one of the observations judged reliable enough by Le Verrier to compute his orbit of Vulcan, the supposed intra-mercurial planet.

 

Source: E. Dunkin. “The suspected Intra-Mercurial planet,”
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
37 (February 1877): 229-30.

447.

4 April 1849, Delhi, India: Very slow object

An extremely slow object was seen in the sky, dimming and brightening.

 

Source:
Report of the twentieth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (year 1850)
(London, 1851): 129.

448.

14 October 1849, Athens, Greece
Unknown celestial object

Astronomer Schmidt reports an unknown celestial object crossing the disk of the sun.

 

Source: E. Ledger, “Observations or supposed observations of the transits of intra-mercurial planets or other bodies across the Sun's disk,”
Observatory
3 (1879-80): 135-8, at 137.

449.

15 January 1850, Cherbourg, France
Light, swinging motion

About 7:45 P.M., by snowy weather, a bright light appeared above the trees. It was observed by Mr. Fleury, swinging about its base, which was in line with the horizon. It scintillated, seemed ready to disappear, then was reignited and finally disappeared. Small flashes continued to be seen, moving south.

 

Source: Camille Flammarion,
Bolides Inexpliqués par leur aspect bizarre et la lenteur de leur parcours – Bradytes,
citing Sestier,
La Foudre et ses formes
, T.I., 205.

450.