Balasore, India — 20 August 1794
Phenomenon in the heavens
At 7:45 P.M. a number of witnesses saw an oversized meteor, brighter than any of the planets. As it descended “it made short and frequent pauses, at which times it appeared far more brilliant than while it was in motion.” The object was lost to sight behind the hills, but not for long: “We expected to have seen no more of it: but in about two minutes after we observed it again, ascending above the hills, where it balanced and waved several times, in a horizontal direction, North and South: it then sank again, illuminating the hills in its declination as before. It rose and fell a second and a third time, with little variation in its movements, after which we saw it no more and all around was darkness.”
Source: The Star (London, England), Saturday, March 14, 1795, issue 2049. Case: W321