In February 1809, Francisco José de Caldas, director of the Astronomical Observatory in Bogotá in present-day Colombia, addressed an issue that everyone was talking about — namely, the weird sky and crazy weather.
Caldas published a weekly newsletter about science called Semanario del Nuevo Reyno de Granada. Under the headline “Meteorological News,” he described how the sun had changed its appearance since the previous Dec. 11. Choked by a high, thin cloud, the sun had lost its brightness, “so much so that many have mistaken it for the moon.” The sky was milky, not at all blue, and at night the lesser stars seemed to have disappeared. Plus, the weather had been unnaturally cold, the fields covered with ice and crops damaged.
“So many have consulted me, and so many have I had to reassure!” wrote Caldas, conscious of his authority. He declared that the cloud causing these things wasn’t to be feared, no more than an eclipse should be feared, and that someday science would offer an explanation.
