ACCOUNT OF THE METEOR SEEN IN CONHECTICUT. §9 



Jn Estlmnte of the Height, Direction, Velocity, and Magni- 

 tude of the Meteor, that exploded over Weston, in Connec- 

 ticut, December the \Ath, 1S07 : ii:ith Methods of cakidating 

 Observations made on such Bodies. B5/ Nathan iel Bo w- 

 Dircii, A.M. A. A. S, and Member of the Philosophical 

 Society held at Philadelphia.* 



T 



HE extraordinary meteor, which appeared at Weston, Mtteot that 



inConnecticut,onthe 14th of December, I8O7, and exploded ^Ji>l^><ied^'-»« 



* . . Weston, m 



with several discharges of stopes, having excited great at- Conntjctictfu 



tentior* througl\out the United States ; and being one of 

 those phenomena, of which few exact observations are to be 

 found in the history of physical science; 1 liave thought, 

 that a collection of the best observations of its appearance' 

 at ditterent places, vvitli the nt^cessary deductions for deter* 

 raining, as accurately as possible, the height, direftron, ve- 

 locity, and magnitude of the body, would not be unaccept- 

 able to the Academy ; since facts of this kind, beside bein* 

 objects of great curiosity, may be useful in the investigation of 

 the origin and nature of these meteors; and as the methods of 

 making tliese calculations are not fully explained in aiiy 

 treatise of trigonometry common in this country, 1 have 

 given the solutions of two of the most necessary problem's, 

 with examples calculated at full length. The second 'pr^-' 

 blem is not (to my knowledge) given in any treatise of- * 

 spherics. The observations of the meteor, which, after manj^Observatioas 

 inquiries, were found to have been made with sufficient ac- «f **• 

 curacy to be intrpduced in the present investigation, 

 were those made at Wenham, about seven miles north- 

 easterly of Salem, by Mrs. Gardner, a very intelligent lady, 

 who had an opportunity of observing it with .great aUeur, 

 tion ; those at Weston by Judge Wheeler and M r.l^taples; 

 and those at Rutland in Vermont by William Page, Esq, 



♦ Memoirs of the American /Vcademy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. HI, • 

 Part II, |j 213. Communicated by the author. 



In 



