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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Professor H. A. Newton, of Yale University, was a constant observer 

 of meteors and published many observations, and in recent years Pro- 

 fessor E. E. Barnard, of the Yerkes Observatory, has added some 

 important records of long-enduring trains. 



Meteor trains are by no means as rare as might be supposed, and it 

 is safe to predict that if a plan were organized for their observation on 

 nights of the year when meteoric showers occur, many trains would be 

 observed. This would be a source of new records which would throw 

 more light on the subject. That trains would be seen if systematically 

 looked for is demonstrated by the fact that nine different trains were 

 seen by an observer in England during one night with the aid of a small 

 telescope. The watch was kept at the time of an ordinary August 

 Perseid shower. 



Mr. Denning and Professor 

 Barnard have pointed out that 

 meteor trains visible to the naked 

 eye for one or two minutes have 

 been seen in the telescope for a 

 quarter of an hour or more, and 

 that by the use of a small low- 

 power telescope they can be stud- 

 ied to greater advantage than by 

 the naked eye alone. If the track 

 of every bright meteor could be 

 examined with a field glass, it is 

 probable that many persistent 

 trains would be observed which 

 would be invisible to the naked 

 eye. Moreover, Mr. Denning has 

 shown that a great many meteors 

 can be seen with a telescope which 

 are otherwise invisible, and he also 

 cites instances where he has detected 

 persistent trains by the telescope. 

 In England a large number of 

 trains were observed in the mete- 

 oric shower of November, 1866; 

 two of these trains are shown in 

 the illustrations. During that 

 shower the long-enduring trains 

 were so numerous that one meteor 

 observer at Birmingham stated 

 that the trains frequently were 

 seen to be branched out from the 

 radiant point, the constellation of 



Fig. 6. Greenish Train observed 

 at Jamaica Plain, Mass., November 

 It, 1901. Meteor fell at 5:09 a.m. A 

 as the train appeared at 5 :12 a.m., B 

 at 5 :17 a.m., at 5 :25 a.m. 



