Northern States and a part of Canada. From the facts which he collected, Prof. Loomis estimated its diameter at 1320 yards, or three quarters of a mile. Its velocity was computed by this gentleman to be nearly 2100 miles a minute, its height to be 30 miles, and the length of its path 200 miles. The meteor was followed by a train of inconsiderable extent, probably formed of the detached portions of the body which fell behind. 537. SPLENDOR. At times these luminous bodies present a spectacle of surpassing beauty, from their brilliant coruscations, extended truins, and rich diversity of colors. During the month of April, 1832, a globular ball of fire, apparently a foot in diameter, passed over Torhut, in India, early in the morning. Behind it streamed a train of dazzling light, which appeared to be several yards in length. The meteor illumined the surrounding country to a great distance, and after remaining visible for the space of five seconds, exploded without noise, like a rocket, throwing out numerous coruscations of intense splendor. In May of the same year, and at the same place, a similar body was seen moving rapidly through the air, from north to south. It glowed with a brilliant mixture of green and blue light, and vanished in about three seconds, leaving a luminous train of great length. 538. During the nights of the 9th and 10th of August, 1839, many shooting-stars of singular beauty were seen by Mr. E. C. Herrick, of New Haven. One flashed with a golden green light, and another sparkled with green and blue. Meteors entirely green have at times been noticed. A meteor which swept over Kensington. near London, in 1839, as brilliant as Jupiter and apparently of greater size, presented the rare combination of white light in the mass, with one edge red and the opposite of a deep blue or purple. On the morning of the 13th of November, 1833, a most brilliant meteor was seen by Prof. Twining, de What is said of their splendor? scending towards the earth with majestic rapidity. Its apparent size was one-fifth that of the moon, and its color a deep red. It vanished when near the ground, leaving behind a fiery train of the same hue, excepting that it displayed the prismatic tints, especially at the point where the meteor expired. 539. The usual color of meteors is that of a phosphoric white tinged with red. The trains generally vanish in a few seconds, but they have been known to last for the space of seven minutes, and even fifteen. Their light (as we have just seen) is not invariably of one hue, for at times it presents to the eye all the rich tints of the rainbow. METEORIC SHOWERS. 540. The wondrous display of meteors in 1833, drew the attention of philosophers to the subject of shooting stars, and, from the results of subsequent researches and observations, there is now reason to believe, that certain epochs exist when these luminous bodies appear in greater numbers than usual, and that sometimes at the return of these periods they literally descend to the earth in showers. The best ascertained periods are those of the 12th and 13th of November, and the 9th and 10th of August. 541. NOVEMBER EPOCH. On the morning of the 12th of November, 1799, an extraordinary display of this nature was seen by Humboldt and Bonpland, at Cumana, in South America. During the space of four hours the sky was illumined with thousands of shooting-stars, mingled with meteors of vast magnitude. This phenomenon was not confined to Cumana, but extended from Brazil to Greenland, and as far east as Weimar, in Germany. On the 13th of the same month, in 1831, a meteoric shower occurred at Ohio, and also near Carthagena, off the coast of Spain. At the latter place, luminous meteors of large size were beheld, one of which left behind it an Are meteors at all times equally abundant? What two great epochs exist? enormous train, tinted with prismatic hues, its trace continuing visible for the space of six minutes. On the same day of the following year, vast numbers of shooting stars fell at Mocha on the Red Sea, upon the Atlantic ocean, and in Switzerland. The same brilliant spectacle then appeared in various parts of England; the sky being illumined soon after midnight by the rushing of thousands of meteors in every direction. 542. But by far the most magnificent display of this kind occurred on the night of the 12th and morning of the 13th of November, 1833. It extended from the northern lakes to the south of Jamaica, and from 61° W. Long. in the Atlantic to about 150° W. Long. on the Pacific ocean near the equator. For the space of seven hours, from 9 P. M. to 4 A. M., the heavens blazed with an incessant discharge of fiery meteors, that burst in countless numbers from the cloudless sky. At times they appeared as thick as snow-flakes falling through the air, as large and as brilliant as the stars themselves; and it required no vivid imagination to suppose, that these celestial bodies were then actually rushing towards the earth. 543. VARIETIES. The luminous bodies of this shower seemed to be divided into three kinds. The first consisted of bright lines traced through the sky, as if by a point. The second of fiery balls, that occasionally darted across the heavens, trailing behind them extended and luminous trains, which generally continued visible for many minutes. The third of radiant bodies, that continued almost immovable for a considerable time. 544. Meteors of the first class occurred in great abundance. At Union Town, Pennsylvania, they were seen shooting along like streams of fire with the rapidity of lightning; often crossing half the visible heavens in less than a second. At New York, about a quarter past five o'clock, a meteor of the second class was beheld rushing from the Describe the meteoric showers of November, 1799, 1831, 1832 and 1833. In the shower of 1833 how many kinds of meteors were noticed? Describe them, and give the instances. zenith, and marking its course by a fiery line apparently two or three inches wide. After passing downward to a considerable distance, it formed into a ball of the apparent size of a man's hat, and then returning on its path, assumed a serpentine figure. It lay extended through the sky for the space of several minutes, and then struck off to the west. A meteor of the third kind was visible in the northeast, at Poland, Ohio, for more than an hour. It first appeared in the form of a pruning hook, apparently twenty feet long, and eighteen inches broad, and shone with great splendor. At Niagara Falls, at two o'clock in the morning, an extended luminous body like a square table was noticed in the zenith. It remained for a time nearly stationary, sending out on every side broad streams of light. 545. It was distinctly noticed by many attentive and accurate observers, that all the meteors appeared to emanate from a certain region, situated in the constellation Leo; and that during the whole display this point was stationary among the stars for more than two hours; thus proving, that the source of the meteoric shower was beyond the atmosphere of the earth; for had it been within, it must have moved eastward, in the direction of the earth's daily motion. 546. For four successive years, after the great November shower of 1833, an unusual number of meteors was observed in America at this period. The phenomenon ceased, upon this continent, in 1838; but an extraordinary display then occurred at Vienna, more than a thousand meteors falling in the course of six hours. 547. AUGUST EPOCH. The second meteoric period occurs on the 9th and 10th of August. It was first distinctly announced in 1827 by Thomas Foster of London, What fact was distinctly noticed by attentive observers? Where is this point situated? What is inferred from the circumstance that it was stationary? For how many years after 1833 did this phenomenon appear? When does the second meteoric period occur? By whom was it first announced? in his Encyclopedia of Natural Phenomena. The number of meteors observed at this epoch is probably five or six times more than the usual nightly average, which has been estimated by Mr. E. C. Herrick, of New Haven, at not more than thirty per hour for four observers. 548. From 1836 to the present year, scarcely a season has passed without an unusual display of meteors at this period, in some quarter of the globe. On the 9th of August, 1839, four observers at New Haven beheld 691 shooting-stars in the course of five hours, a third part surpassing in brightness stars of the first magnitude. On the ensuing night, 491 were seen in the space of three hours, by the same number of observers; and at Vienna in Austria, during the same evening, shooting-stars descended at the rate of sixty per hour. Upon the annual return in 1842, 490 meteors fell at Parma in Italy, and 779 at Vienna. Many were likewise seen at Brussels. At New Haven, in the space of fifty minutes, 89 were seen, one of which equaled Jupiter in splendor. In 1847, at Manlius, N. Y., 415 meteors were seen on the morning of the 11th of August in the course of two hours, commencing at midnight and ending at 2 o'clock A. M. On the 10th of August, 1848, 475 meteors were noted at New Haven, in the space of two hours and a half, by Mr. E. C. Herrick and three other observers. Many of them exceeded in brilliancy stars of the first magnitude. In France, on the same night, 414 shootingstars were beheld by two observers, within a period of three hours and a quarter. 549. Like the meteors of November, those of August appear also to radiate from a small space in the heavens, which has been referred, by all observers, to the constellation Perseus. Shooting-stars have likewise been found to be more What is said in regard to the recurrence of this shower? What is said respecting the source of the August meteors? |