The Moon
"The Moon has a crater named "Plato" and the following account refers to this crater by name. "In L'Astronomie, 1888-75, Dr.Klein publishes an account of de Speissen's observation of Nov.23, 1887--- a luminous triangle on the floor of Plato. Dr.Klein says it was an effect of sunlight." (Pages 465-466)
"Scientific American, 46-49: Two triangular, luminous appearances reported by several observers in Lebanon, Conn., evening of July 3, 1882, on the moon's upper limb. They disappeared, and two dark triangular appearances that looked like notches were seen three minutes later upon the lower limb. They approached each other, met and instantly disappeared. The merger here is notches that have at times been seen upon the moon's limb: thought to be cross sections of craters (Monthly Notices, R.A.S., 37-432). But these appearances of July 3, 1882, were vast upon the moon--- 'seemed to be cutting off or obliterating nearly a quarter of its surface." (Page 268)
"Science, July 31, 1896: That, according to a newspaper account, Mr.W.R. Brooks, director of the Smith Observatory, had seen a dark round object pass rather slowly across the moon, in a horizontal direction. In Mr.Brooks' opinion it was a dark meteor. In Science, Sept.14, 1896, a correspondent writes that, in his opinion, it may have been a bird. ...As to the body that was seen by Brooks there is a note from the Dutch Astronomer, Muller, in the Scientific American, 75-251, that, upon April 4, 1892, he had seen a similar phenomenon. In Science Gossip, n.s., 3-135, are more details of the Brooks object--- apparent diamter about one-thirtieth of the moon's--- moon's disk crossed in three or four seconds. The writer, in Science Gossip, says that, on June 27, 1896, at one o'clock in the morning, he was looking at the moon with a 2-inch achromatic, power 44, when a long black object sailed past, from west to east, the transit occupying 3 or 4 seconds. He believed this object to be a bird--- there was, however, no fluttering motion observable in it." (Pages 210-211)
"Communication from Dr.F.B.Harris (Popular Astronomy, 20-398): That, upon the evening of Jan.27, 1912, Dr.Harris saw, upon the moon, " an intensely black object." He estimated it to be 250 miles long and 50 miles wide. "The object resembled a crow poised, as near as anything." Clouds then cut off observation. Dr.Harris writes: "I cannot but think that a very interesting and curious phenomenon happened." " (Page 211)
"In Popular Science, 34-158, Serviss tells of a shadow that Schroeter saw, in 1788, in the lunar Alps. First he saw a light. But then, when this region was illuminated, he saw a round shadow where the light had been. Our own expression: that he saw a luminous object near the moon: that that part of the moon became illuminated, and the object was lost to view; but that then its shadow underneath was seen. ...Serviss thinks that what Schroeter saw was the 'round' shadow of a mountain---in the region that had become lighted. He assumes that Schroeter never looked again to see whether the shadow could be attributed to a mountain. That's the crux: conceivably a mountain could cast a round ---and that means detached--- shadow, in the lighted part of the moon."(Pages 225-226)
"Mr.H.C. Russell... tells in the Observatory, 2-374, ...that he and another astronomer, G.D. Hirst, were in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney N.S.W., and Mr.Hirst was looking at the moon--- He saw on the moon what Russell calls "one of those remarkable facts, which being seen should be recorded, although no explanation can at present be offered." ...Russell says, of Hirst's observation: "He found a large part of it covered with a dark shade, quite as dark as the shadow of the earth during an eclipse of the moon. ...One could hardly resist the conviction that it was a shadow, yet it could not be the shadow of any known body." (Pages 226-227)
"In Popular Astronomy, 3-159, Prof.Swift writes that, at Mattoon, Ill., during the eclipse of the sun, of Aug. 7, 1869, he had seen, crossing the moon, objects that he thought were seeds. If they were seeds, also there happened to be seeds in the sky of Ottuna, Iowa: here, crossing the visible part of the sun, twenty minutes before the totality of the eclipse, Prof. Himes and Prof. Zentmayer saw objects that marched, or that moved, in straight, parallel lines (Les Mondes, 21-241). In the Jour. Frank. Inst., 3-58-214, it is said that some of these objects moved in another direction across another part of the moon, each division moving in parallel lines. If these things were seeds, also there happened to be seeds in the sky at Shelleyville, Kentucky. Here were seen, by Prof. Winlock, Alvan Clark Jr., and George W. Dean, things that moved across the moon, during eclipse, in parallel, straight lines (Pop. Astro., 2-332)." (Page 417) "Observatory, 3-137--- that, at St.Paul's Junction, Iowa, four persons had seen, without telescopes, a shining object close to the sun and moon, apparently; that, with a telecope, another person had seen another large object, crescentically illumined, farther from the sun and moon in eclipse (Nature, 18-663, and Astro. Reg., 7-227)." (Page 418)
" Upon the night of May 15, 1864, Herbert Ingall, of Camberwell, saw a little to the west of the lunar crater Picard, in the Mare Crisium, a remarkably bright spot (Astro.Reg., 2-264)."...Upon Oct. 16, Ingall had again seen the light west of Picard. Jan. 1, 1865 - a small speck of light, in darkness, under the east foot of the lunar Alps, shining like a small star, watched half an hour by Charles Grover (Astro. Reg., 3-255)...April 10, 1865 - west of Picard, according to Ingall - "a most minute point of light, glittering like a star" Sept. 5, 1865 - a conspicuous bright spot west of Picard (Astro. Reg., 3-252). It was seen again by Ingall. He saw it again upon the 7th, but upon the 8th it had gone, and there was a cloud-like effect where the light had been....Nov. 24, 1865 - a speck of light that was seen by the Rev. W. O. Williams, shining like a small star in the lunar crater Carlini (Intel. Obs., 11-58). June 10, 1866 - the star-like light in Aristarchus; reported by Tempel (Denning, Telescopic Work, p. 121." (Pages 426-427)
" Upon the 16th of October, 1866, the astronomer Schmidt, of the land of Socrates, announced that the isolated object, in the eastern part of the Mare Serenitatis, known as Linné, had changed. Linné stands out in a blank area like the Pyramid of Cheops in its desert. If changes did occur upon Linné, the conspicuous position seems to indicate selection. Before October 1866, Linné was well-known as a dark object. Something was whitening an object that had been black." (Page 427)...Upon Dec.14, 16, 25, 27, 1866, Linné was seen as a white spot. But there was something that had the seeming more of a design, or of a pattern, an elaboration upon the mere turning to white of something that had been black - a fine, black spot upon Linné; by Schmidt and Buckingham, in December, 1866 (The Student, 1-261). The most important consideration of all is reviewed by Schmidt in the Rept. B. A., 1867-22 - that sunlight and changes of sunlight had nothing to do with the changing appearances of Linné. Jan. 14, 1867 - the white covering, or at least, seeming covering, of Linné, had seemingly disappeared - Knott's impression of Linné as a dark spot, but "definition" was poor. January 16 - Knott's very strong impression, which, however, he says may have been an illusion, of a small central dark spot upon Linné. Dawes' observation, of March 15, 1867 - "an excessively minute black dot in the middle of Linné" A geometric figure that was white-bordered and centered with black, formed and dissolved and formed again." (Pages 428-429) "Upon the night of June 10, 1867, Dawes saw three distinct, roundish black spots near Sulpicius Gallus, which is near Linné; when looked for upon the 13th, they had disappeared. (The Student, 1.261). ...Upon Aug. 6, 1867, Buckingham saw upon Linné, which was in darkness, " a rising oval spot" ( Rept. B. A., 1867-7). In October, 1867, Linné was seen as a convex white spot ( Rept. B. A., 1867-8). (Page 430)
"Upon the night of the 13th of July, 1875, at midnight, two officers of H.M.S. Coronation, in the Gulf of Siam, saw a luminous projection from the Moon's upper limb (Nature, 12-495). Upon the 14th it was gone, but a smaller projection was seen from another part of the Moon's limb." (Page 441)
"Upon the night of Feb. 20, 1877, M.Trouvelot, of the Observatory of Meudin, saw, in the lunar crater Eudoxus, which, like almost all other centers of seeming signaling, is in the northwestern quadrant of the moon (emphasis mine), a fine line of light (L'Astronomie, 1885-212). It was like a luminous cable drawn across the crater."(Page 441)
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Mercury
"Luminous spot seen moving across the disk of Mercury, in 1799, by Harding and Schroecter. (Monthly Notices of the R.A.S., 38-338.)" (Page 195)
In August, 1878, Professors Swift and Watson stated that "during an eclipse of the sun, they had seen two luminous bodies that might be planets between Mercury and the sun." (Page 317)
"In the Rept.B.A., 1855-94, R.P.Greg says that, upon May 22, 1854, a friend of his saw, near Mercury, an object equal in size to the planet itself, and behind it an elongated object, and behind that something else, smaller and round." (Page 413)
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Venus
"Visitors to Venus:...That, in 1645, a body large enough to look like a satellite was seen near Venus. Four times in the first half of the 18th century, a similar observation was reported. The last report occurred in 1767. A large body has been seen seven times according to Science Gossip, 1886-178)--- near Venus. At least one astronomer, Houzeau, accepted these observations and named the--- world, planet, super-construction--- 'Neith'. His views are mentioned 'in passing, but without endorsement,' in the Trans.N.Y.Acad., 5-249." (Page 195)
Upon Feb.3, 1884, M.Staevert, of the Brussels Observatory, saw, upon the disc of Venus, an extremely brilliant point (Ciel et Terre, 5-127). Nine days later, Niesten saw just such a point of light as this, but at a distance from the planet. If no one had ever heard that such things cannot be, one might think that these two observations were upon something that had been seen leaving Venus and had then been seen farther along. Upon the 3rd of July, 1884, a luminous object was seen moving slowly in the sky of Norwood, N.Y. It had features that suggest the structural : a globe, the size of the moon, surrounded by a ring; two dark lines crossing the nucleus (Science Monthly, 2-136). Upon the 26th of July, a luminous globe, size of the moon, was seen at Cologne; it seemed to be moving upward from this earth, then was stationary 'some minutes,' and then continued upward until it disappeared (Nature, 30-360). And in the English Mechanic, 40-130, it is not said that a luminous vessel that had sailed out from Venus, in February, visiting this earth, where it was seen in several places, was seen upon its return to the planet, but it is said that an observer in Rochester, N.Y., had, upon August 17, seen a brilliant point upon Venus." (Page 436)
Unknown objects have been seen near Venus. There were more than thirty such observations in the eighteenth century, not relating to so many different periods, however. Our own earliest datum is Webb's observation, of May 22, 1823. I know of only one astronomer who has supposed that these observations could relate to a Venusian satellite, pronouncedly visible sometimes, and then for many years being invisible: something else will have to be thought of. If these observations and others that we shall have, be accepted, they relate to unknown bulks that have, from outre space, gone to Venus, and have been in temporary suspension near the planet... If acceptably, from outer space, something could go to the planet Venus, one is not especially startled with the idea that something could sail out from the planet Venus--- visit this earth, conceivably." (Page 400)
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Mars
"June 10, 1892--- a light like a little searchlight, projecting from the limb of Mars. Upon July 11 and 13, it was seen again, by Campbell and Hussey. (Nature ,5-500).quot; (Page 465). Upon August 3, 1892, the earth was at the height of opposition to Mars. "Upon Aug.12, 1892, flashes were seen by many persons, in the sky of England. ...At Manchester, so like signals were they, or so unlike anything commonly known as 'auroral' were they, that Albert Buss mistook them for flashes from a lighthouse. They were seen at Dewsbury; described by a correspondent to the English Mechanic, who wrote: 'I have never seen such an appearance of an aurora.' 'Rapid flashes' reported from Loughborough." (Page 465)
"A light-reflecting body, or a bright spot near Mars: seen Nov.25, 1894, by Prof.Pickering and others, at the Lowell Observatory, above an unilluminated part of Mars--- self-luminous, it would seem--- thought to have been a cloud --- but estimated to have been about twenty miles away from the planet." (Page 195)
"Oct. 24, 1864 - period of nearest approach by Mars - red lights upon opposite parts of Mars (C.R., 85-538)....Jan. 3, 1865 - again the red lights of Mars (C. R., 85-538)"(Page 426)
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Saturn
"I have a note upon a determined luminosity that was bent upon Saturn , as its objective. In the English Mechanic, 63-496, a correspondent writes that, upon July 13, 1896, he saw, through his telescope, from 10 until after 11:15 p.m., after which the planet was too near the horizon for good seeing, a luminous object moving near saturn. He saw it pass several small stars. "It was certainly going toward Saturn at a good rate."" (Page 454)
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Interplanetary
"Upon Jan.22, 1898, Lieut.Blackett, R.N., assisting Sir Norman Lockyer, at Viziadrug, India, during the total eclipse of the sun, saw an unknown body between Venus and Mars (Jour.Leeds Astro.Soc.,1906-23). (Page 489)
"In the Dundee Advertiser, Dec. 22, 1882, it is said that, between 10 and 11 a.m., December 21, at Broughty Ferry , Scotland, a correspondent had seen an unknown luminous body near and a little above the sun. In the Advertiser, December 25, is published a letter from someone who says that this object had been seen at Dundee, also; that quite certainly it was the planet Venus and "no other." In Knowledge, 2-489, this story is told by a writer who says that undoubtedly the object was Venus. But, in Knowledge, 3-13, the astronomer J. E. Gore writes that the object could not have been Venus, which upon this date was 1 h. 33 m., R.A., west of the sun. The observation is reviewed in L'Astronomie, 1883-109. Here it is said that the position of Mercury accorded better. Reasonably this object could not have been Mercury: several objections are comprehended in the statement that superior conjunction of Mercury had occurred upon December 16." (Pages 435-436)
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