SINGULAR PHENOMENON.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 44, 12 June 1876, Page 2

SINGULAR PHENOMENON.

A most singular phenomenon was witnessed last evening by a few persons who happened to be walking about town at 11.45 -p.m. Looking towards the west, and about 15 degrees above the horizon, a dark redcoloured arch was observed something in the form of a rainbow, though it had not so large a diameter, if we may use the term. The first appearance of the blood-coloured arch gave the impression that it was a lunar rainbow; but this is quite impossible, because at the time the heavens were unclouded, and it would of course be impossible to have a rainbow without rain. The meteor presented the appeai-ance of two concentric arches, the inner one being of a lighter colour than the secondary one. In the course of what appeared to be two or three seconds, the outer rim of the bow changed to a deep blue, and then contracted in size till only a thin arc of light could be observed where before was abow, with an apparent width of three feet. After this change occurred, the bow gradually disappeared, but only to give place to other extraordinary phenomena. A shower of fire fell, and then the little sparks exploded like sky-rockets. The whole lot then resembled an enormous mass of luminous gas, with an interrupted spectrum of three lines, probably agreeing with nitrogen, hydrogen, and some other substance. It is, of course, impossible for us to state definitely towbatthis marvellous meteoric appearance "may be ascribed; but we are inclined to think that the sun is now giving off the heat imparted to it at its creation, and this causes a stream of meteoric matter surrounded by three atmospheric strata. The first of these is a dense bed of vaporous clouds ; above this floats a luminous stream of photosphere, composed of unconnected phosphoric clouds, and subject to continual fluctuations, both from local causes of agitation, and from the adjacent vapour acting by its elasticity, to burst through the .photosphere about it, thus causing the beautiful prysmatic arch we observed in the heavens last evening. We shall be very pleased to hear from any of our readers who may have observed the phenomena last evening, with a view to ventilating this extraordinary apparition, for such it really was.