om the east coast of England, and at least forty miles to the
eastward of London, it appeared a little to the westward of the south,
suppose south by west, and was seen about thirty degrees high, sliding
obliquely downward. I was shown in both places the situation thereof,
which was as described, but could wish some person skilled in
astronomical matters bad seen it, that we might pronounce concerning its
height with more certainty. Yet, as it is, we may securely conclude
that it was not many more miles westerly than Redgrove, which, as I
said before, is about forty miles more easterly than London. Suppose it,
therefore, where perpendicular, to have been thirty-five miles east
from London, and by the altitude it appeared at in London--viz., fifty
degrees, its tangent will be forty-two miles, for the height of the
meteor above the surface of the earth; which also is rather of the
least, because the altitude of the place shown me is rather more than
less than fifty degrees; and the like may be concluded from the altitude
it appeared in at Redgrove, near seventy miles distant. Though at this
very great distance, it appeared to move with an incredible velocity,
darting, in a very few seconds of time, for about twelve degrees of
a great circle from north to south, being very bright at its first
appearance; and it died away at the east of its course, leaving for some
time a pale whiteness in the place, with some remains of it in the track
where it had gone; but no hissing sound as it passed, or bounce of an
explosion were heard.

"It may deserve the honorable society's thoughts, how so great a
quantity of vapor should be raised to the top of the atmosphere, and
there collected, so as upon its ascension or otherwise illumination, to
give a light to a circle of above one hundred miles diameter, not much
inferior to the light of the moon; so as one might see to take a pin
from the ground in the otherwise dark night. 'Tis hard to conceive what
sort of exhalations should rise from the earth, either by the action
of the sun or subterranean heat, so as to surmount the extreme cold
and rareness of the air in those upper regions: but the fact is
indisputable, and therefore requires a solution."

From this much of the paper it appears that there was a general belief
that this burning mass was heated vapor thrown off from the earth in
some mysterious manner, yet this is unsatisfactory to Halley, for after
citing various other meteors t