THE METEORS OF NOVEMBER i^m-i^Tif. 



543 



3h. 45m. to 3h. 50in., 1 mdeor. 



4h. 45m. to 4h. 50m., 3 meteors. 



Table showing the same Meteors as above by the Quarter- Hour, Half- 



Sour, and Sour. 



3h. 45m. to 4h. Om., 2 



l\ 



13 



15 



Moon 



during 



first 



hour. 



4h.45m. to 5h. Om., 15 ) 

 15 10 ) 

 30 26 I 

 45 25 \ 





 15 

 30 



" 5 

 " 5 

 " 5 



51 



.76 



No 



moon 



second 



hour. 



Remarks. 1. The maximum was at b^ 30, when five Leonids 

 were seen in one minute. 



2. The shortest path two degrees was that of a meteor nearly 

 stationary, seen in Leo at S"* 18'". The longest forty degrees crossed 

 Ursa Major at S*" 20-". 



3. The average length of path during the first hour was six de- 

 grees ; in the second, about seven ; the increase being probably due to 

 the absence of moonlight. 



4. At least three distinct meteoric swarms move in the track of 

 Tempel's comet (1866 L). One has just passed or is passing perihe- 

 lion ; the second will pass about 188T-'88 ; and the maximum group 

 about the close of the century. 



5. The meteors on the morning of the 14th inst. were more numer- 

 ous than those of the August shower ; a fact quite remarkable when 

 it is remembered that it is fourteen years since the great display of 

 the principal cluster. 



6. The estimated periods of the comet and the meteor groups of 

 the Leonid ring are as follows : 



Tempel's comet , 33'176 years. 



Group A 33-2.50 " 



Group B 33-333 " 



Group C 33-500 " 



The last is derived from the showers of 1813, 1846, 1847, 1879, and 

 1880. 



7. Oppolzer's period of Tempel's comet, as given above, is perhaps 

 too short. If this body was a return of the comet of 1866, its mean 

 period is 33*283 years very nearly the same as the meteoric periods. 



