394 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.90 



These observations are among the most accurate we have, except 

 that the trajectory should have sloped somewhat, and not have been 

 vertical. For the rest it agrees with our general conclusions. Note 

 Williamson's agreement with Heyl, as to a wide part on the trail. 

 Thirty seconds of arc is the width of the moon's disk and was about 

 25 miles from the observer. This implies a trail about 2,000 feet 

 wide at this point. 



R. V. Bergvall, assistant to manager of engineering, Westinghouse 

 Electric & Manufacturing Co., writing to the Royal Astronomical 

 Society of Canada, on June 27, says: "I observed a meteor on June 24, 

 1938, at about 6:00 p. m., E. S. T., from 24 Hillcrest Road, Forest 

 Hills, near Wilkinsburg, Pa. Thinking that a reasonably accurate 

 reference might be of value, I spotted the center of the smoke in line 

 with two landmarks that happened to be available and later measured 

 the angle, using the location of the North Star as a reference. The 

 measurements were made with a protractor. The central line of the 

 smoke appeared 7° east of north and was exactly 40° up from the 

 horizontal. The smoke subtended about a 15° angle, as closely as I 

 could judge from memory after having obtained the protractor. The 

 smoke trail tilted about 5° from vertical, the downward point being 

 toward the east. The smoke drifted slowly toward the west. My 

 wife observed the actual flash and reports that it did not reach ground. 

 I believe that this observation is correct because of the limited length 

 of the smoke line. The sound of the explosion was heard in about 2 

 minutes, but this time observation is not at all accurate." 



Bergvall notes the slope of the track and places the meteor fairly 

 accurately in the Chicora region. Mrs. Bergvall's report that the 

 flash did not reach ground also is true, and the timing is not so far out. 

 There is the mystery of the smoke drifting toward the west, also re- 

 ported from Cooperstown and Butler, while Heyl reports it drifting 

 south, and the clouds drifting east. Possibly the apparent motion is 

 due, in part at least, to the settling of the smoke. 



William A. Knoch writes: "I was sitting on the porch of my house, 

 7220 Hermitage Street in Homewood, with my sun glasses on just 

 looking up at the sky, when I was amazed to see a long streak of fire 

 going across the sky toward the earth at an angle. After going so far 

 it stopped like somethmg bursting. It continued with another streak 

 and then ceased. After this bursting there Avas a small quantity of 

 smoke which contmued to hang in the sky. If you had not known it 

 was caused by this meteor, you would have thought it was a small 

 cloud. I thought at first it was a skyrocket that might have been 

 shot from an ahlmer, but there was none around. I remained in this 

 position watching the smoke. About 5 minutes later the whole win- 

 dow behind me shook until I thought the glass would break. I never 



