Abstract
LAST Friday, the 11th, my attention was called at 9 p.m. to a most remarkable appearance in the sky. It consisted of a luminous band stretching from the eastern horizon to the west, and passing a little to the south of the zenith. It was first seen here at 8.20, and began as a luminous ray coming up from the west, but when I first saw it, it had extended as described from west to east. It was like a straight tail of a large comet with its head below the horizon, or the track of the beam from a powerful electric search light. Its eastern end lay a little to the south of the Pleiades, which were just rising; and in the west it passed through Corona Borealis. The night was a brilliant starlight one, and small stars could be seen through the luminous band. It was seen in the Co. Kildare, 50 miles from here, and there it passed through the zenith also, which would show that it was at a great altitude. It gradually faded away, and was gone at 9.30. It would be of interest to know if it was observed in other parts of the country.
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WILSON, W. A Rare Phenomenon. Nature 44, 494 (1891). https://doi.org/10.1038/044494c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/044494c0
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