- #1
diogenesNY
- 229
- 240
I have been reading a book: _Lights and Shadows of Sailor Life_ by Joseph G. Clark.
It is a memoir of the 1838 to 1842 United States Exploring Expedition.
One event that is vividly described is a 'meteor' that falls while the author is anchored in Puget Sound on May 31, 1841. It is described as being so bright that it lights up the sky like a sheet of fire and that it took one hour and twenty five minutes to fall, before making a clear impact.
This is a very vivid description and sounds unlike (to my presumably less than comprehensive knowledge of the subject) like any meteor that I have heard described, particularly the duration of its visible flight.
Could he be describing a meteor or perhaps something else? Was this description perhaps of some otherwise historically recorded event?
Just curious... the description really got my attention. I can reproduce the relevant paragraph if there is interest, I don't have the book at my fingertips, but can easily enough retrieve it.
In fact, here is a digital rendering of the book:
https://archive.org/details/lightsandshadow01clargoog
archive.org has several different copies of it, if this one proves troublesome.
Here we go: Here is the relevant text from Chapter XIV, page 217:
-----------------
At ten minutes past 8 o'clock, on the 31st, a meteor of immense magnitude and brilliancy shot across the heavens in a north-west direction, illuminating the heavens to such an extent that there was a resemblance to a sheet of fire, till it nearly reached the horizon, when it exploded, sending off myriads of corruscations in every direction. When it first commenced its flight, it was exceedingly slow in its descent, but as it increased its distance towards the horizon, it increased its velocity considerably, until it burst. Many old seamen on board never witnessed a meteor half so large, nor one whose light remained so long visible. From the time it was first seen until it entirely disappeared, was one hour and twenty-five minutes.
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What do you think?
diogenesNY
It is a memoir of the 1838 to 1842 United States Exploring Expedition.
One event that is vividly described is a 'meteor' that falls while the author is anchored in Puget Sound on May 31, 1841. It is described as being so bright that it lights up the sky like a sheet of fire and that it took one hour and twenty five minutes to fall, before making a clear impact.
This is a very vivid description and sounds unlike (to my presumably less than comprehensive knowledge of the subject) like any meteor that I have heard described, particularly the duration of its visible flight.
Could he be describing a meteor or perhaps something else? Was this description perhaps of some otherwise historically recorded event?
Just curious... the description really got my attention. I can reproduce the relevant paragraph if there is interest, I don't have the book at my fingertips, but can easily enough retrieve it.
In fact, here is a digital rendering of the book:
https://archive.org/details/lightsandshadow01clargoog
archive.org has several different copies of it, if this one proves troublesome.
Here we go: Here is the relevant text from Chapter XIV, page 217:
-----------------
At ten minutes past 8 o'clock, on the 31st, a meteor of immense magnitude and brilliancy shot across the heavens in a north-west direction, illuminating the heavens to such an extent that there was a resemblance to a sheet of fire, till it nearly reached the horizon, when it exploded, sending off myriads of corruscations in every direction. When it first commenced its flight, it was exceedingly slow in its descent, but as it increased its distance towards the horizon, it increased its velocity considerably, until it burst. Many old seamen on board never witnessed a meteor half so large, nor one whose light remained so long visible. From the time it was first seen until it entirely disappeared, was one hour and twenty-five minutes.
-------------------------------
What do you think?
diogenesNY