2-888-326 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Meteor, as seen from the Fulham-Road, [near London], 1850. 'It first appeared like a star, about four times as large as Venus, with a dull golden lustre, and rapidly increased in brightness till it became a white light, resembling an immense diamond, and put forth a tail like a waving blade of red flame; as it proceeded, the tail either disappeared or was lost in the increased brightness of the head, which at last shone so brilliantly as to light up the whole atmosphere - the light certainly near exceeded that of the full moon; it then became suddenly extinguished...I thought the last I saw of the meteor as the light vanished was a red spot, but it disappeared instantaneously. I looked round at the clock directly it had disappeared, and it was exactly twenty minutes to eleven'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.