Vi% 



ACCOUNT or TilE METEOR SEEN IN V0^NEC;rH^U1^, 



TABLE II. 



Places and Distances of the Meteor at the Times of the (('afferent Obstrva* 

 tions, as determined by the mean of all the Calculat'wiii. 



Course of the ' From the places of the meteor given in the preceding ta- 



^^ ^ '^* ble it rs easy to find, by the common rules of trigonometry, 



tfeat its^ course was about S 7* W; t»a direction nearly paral- 

 lel io the nirf ace of the Earth, and at the height of about 



and its height, eighteen miles. These points appear to be ascertained to a 

 considerable degree of accuracy. The \ia)!e elapsed be- 

 •* tween the disappearance of the meteor, and hearing th^ 

 three 'loud reports at Weston, which, accordii;g ,to the 

 estimates of different observers, was at least sixty seconds, 

 serves in a degree to confirm the accuracy of the estimated 

 altitude of the meteor. For the velocity of sopnd being 

 1142 feet per second, the distance corresponding to 60 

 seconds is 60 X 1142 iz 68520 feet, or 13 miles nearly: 

 consequently the height must have exceeded 13 miles. 



At the first appearance of the meteor at Rutland, it was,, 

 elevated at least 8° above the horizon of Weston ; and at its. 

 disappearance at Weston, was above 5° above the horizon 

 of Rutland ; as may be easily proved from the places of the : 

 meteor given iu Table II. Now as it was seen by judge . 

 Wheeler and Mr. Page quite near the horizon, it must 

 have been observed at both places from the time of the first . 

 Rutland observation till its disappearance at Weston. Th^^j 

 distance of the points where the meteor was then situate is 

 easily found from the data in Table U to be 107 miles in a 



Space pzsseJ straight line, and the distance really passed over by the body . 



oirerbyit, yjhile visible mvst have exceeded that quantity. The whole,j+ 

 duration of the appearance of the meteor, as estimated by;. 

 Mr.^'P«g* and judg^e Wheeler, was about 30 seconds, 



whi."h 



