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Show AURORA WAS GRAND SIGHT A wierd and beautiful display of Aurora Borealis in the heavens was viewed by a large part of the people peo-ple of Beaver county last Saturday night. Blazing through the heavens in alternate al-ternate waves of brilliant light, the phenomenon was viewed with wonder won-der and curiosity. Many thought there was a huge fire somewhere in the far distance. The display was visible vis-ible fro mthe Atlantic to the Pacific, Paci-fic, and as far south as the Mexican .border, and lasted from early evening even-ing until Sunday morning. Local spectators report that the Aurora resembled, at times, a huge fountain of fire, spouting brilliantly colored flames in every direction. A curious feature was the fact that it seemed to be moving toward . the south, as this latitude, about 37 decrees, de-crees, is south of the zone of frequen cy for auroral displays. The display is believed to have been caused-by terrific electrical disturbances dis-turbances in the atmosphere. Telegraph Tele-graph wires all over the country were put out of commission by the disturbance, which seemed to affect uninsulated wires only as telephone wires were not affected, and the radio, ra-dio, which is particularly susceptible suscepti-ble to atmospheric disturbances, remained re-mained untouched by the magnetic Influences responsible for the Ii' The Aurora Borealis is a lumin-our lumin-our phenomenon of beauty which is seen in the northern sky, taking the form of streams, arches, or patches, which vary in shade considerably, being be-ing sometimes smoky, black or steel gray, and at others brilliant yellow, green, violet or fiery red. Auroral displays are most fre quent and brilliant in relatively high latitudes. In America, the zone of maximum frequency is between latitude lati-tude 50 and 60 degrees north. In this zone over eighty auroras are seen annually. In a latitude of 4 0 degrees there are about ten a year; at latitude 42 degrees there are twen ty; and at 45 degrees, forty. Between latitude 50 and 60 degrees, they are - visible almost every clear night. North and south of these latitudes, . the auroral is less common. In the torrid zone it is rarely observed, not more than six auroras in a century being seen as far south as 20 degrees They are much more frequent, latitude lati-tude for latitude, in America than in Europe; but are at times seen simultaneously sim-ultaneously over large tracts cf the world, from Russia to California, and from .-'amaica to Labrador, such a display being that of October 1870. Intimate relations exist between sun spots, magnetic storms and auroras, auro-ras, the appearance of a large spot on the solar disc being almost invariably invar-iably accompanied by a magnetic fltorm in all parts "of the globe. During Dur-ing magnetic storms, auroral displays dis-plays usually take place, but not all auroras are coincident with magnetic magnet-ic disturbances. " |