Moscow, Russia: Unexplained sky object — 1 March 1860
At 9:45 P.M. “a star to the southwest of the Great Bear suddenly commenced to wax
larger, assuming at the same time the color of iron at a red heat, but without the appearance of any sparks or rays.” It was observed in this condition until 11:30 P.M., growing to half the size of the moon. It then became dimmer, and by midnight it had disappeared. In its stead “a sort of black speck was to be noticed by the light of the other stars.” The writer adds: “It remains for the astronomers to describe, and poets to sing, the destruction of the luminary, which, for ought we know, may have been the abode of a race superior to our own.”
Source: The Russian correspondent of the London Telegraph, quoted in The Banner of Liberty (Middletown, New York), 6 June 1860. 465. Case: W419