P1556 PHENOMENA-MAWSON 1958 — Antarctic Phenomena Reports
A 1958 ANARE field report in which four researchers at Taylor Glacier, Mawson Station, Antarctica, describe two distinct and regular forms of aerial light phenomena observed over twenty minutes on 17 July 1958.
Brief
Four members of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions — P. Trost, G. Knuckey, P. Chapman, and I. Adams — recorded an unexplained visual event at sea level near Taylor Glacier during pre-sunrise twilight on 17 July 1958. The display lasted twenty minutes and exhibited two discrete forms: high-speed shadow blobs recurring at roughly three-second intervals, and parallel luminous rays resembling auroral drapery but described as much more regular. The entire display migrated from the eastern sector to the north over the observation period. The observers had no instruments at hand, and all measurements carry the explicit caveat of unaided experienced observation only.
Metadata
- Agency
- Royal Australian Air Force / National Archives of Australia
- Release
- 1958-01-01
- Type
- PDF • .pdf
- Length
- 3 pages
- Programs
- ANARE
- Tags
- light phenomena, shadow anomaly, parallel rays, auroral-like, Antarctica, Mawson Station, Taylor Glacier, 1958, IGY, visual-only
Key points
- Four named ANARE observers documented the event at approximately 1300 hours GMT+7 on 17 July 1958, from sea level adjacent to the east side of Taylor Glacier.p.2
- The observation lasted approximately twenty minutes under clear pre-sunrise twilight conditions with sparse high-level cloud and unobstructed visibility from 350°T through North to 065°T.p.2
- The first phenomenon was described as an 'indefinable blob of shadow' moving at auroral speed from east to west, recurring as regularly as three seconds apart before fading abruptly at the end of each run.p.2
- The second phenomenon consisted of parallel luminous rays explicitly described as 'much more regular' than auroral drapery, approximating a strength-one aurora in brilliancy.p.2
- The rays extended from the horizon upward only to 10-15° elevation before blending with the sky, and were whiter than the ambient pinkish sky with grayish spaces between them.p.2
- Rays moved in groups of roughly 30-40 with an average five-second gap between groups and occasional pauses exceeding one minute.p.2
- The display migrated from east to north over the observation period, with eastern frequency diminishing as northern prominence increased.p.3
- No instruments were present; the report explicitly limits all measurements to the accuracy achievable by experienced unaided observers.p.3
Most interesting
- The observation occurred during the International Geophysical Year (1957-58), a coordinated global scientific research period during which unusual atmospheric phenomena were under heightened scrutiny worldwide.
- Both the shadow blobs and the parallel rays moved in the same direction — east to west — suggesting a single coherent source or mechanism rather than two independent phenomena.
- The rays' inclination shifted with azimuth: more than 45° from vertical in the eastern sector, less than 45° in the north — consistent with apparent perspective change as a distant source moved, though no source is identified.
- Mawson Station sits at approximately 67.6°S latitude, deep within the auroral zone; the observers were experienced enough to distinguish the phenomena from standard aurora, a distinction they made explicitly and in detail.
- The shadow-blob recurrence interval — as regular as three seconds — and the ray-group structure of 30-40 elements stand in notable contrast to the irregular pulsing that characterizes natural aurora.