A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 45 



and beautiful rocket. When first seen it was about 60° above the horizon, 

 and passed within 10° to the north of Venus : it appeared a great distance 

 ofi^, and was doubtless traversing the remote regions of our atmosphere, as it 

 exploded without any perceptible noise in the direction of Caranja, and at 

 that time it could not have been more than 18° or so above the horizon. 

 The most singular part of this phsenomenon was, that after the meteor had 

 burst into fragments, it left a stream of light behind about 10° or 12° in 

 length, and for a time it strongly resembled the tail of a comet, with a 

 nucleus of its own appended to it. Hooked at it through an inverting tele- 

 scope, and could plainly perceive a small bright spot like a star of the second 

 magnitude, surrounded as it were by a luminous vapour or cloud. This ne- 

 bulous appearance continued visible for full twenty minutes, wlien it gradu- 

 ally diminished in size, became more and more indistinct, and at last vanished 

 altogether. The earth, it is well known, is at this moment travelling through 

 the region of meteors in its annual orbit round the sun, and now is the period 

 in fact when our globe incurs the liability of encountering streams of these 

 ehooting stars ; and Sir John Herschel informs us in his ' Outlines of Astro- 

 nomy,' that the meteors of the 12th to 14th of November, or at least the 

 vast majority of them, describe apparently arcs of great circles passing through 

 or near y Leonis. No matter what the situation of that star with respect to 

 the horizon, or to its east or west points, may be at the time of observation, 

 the paths of the meteors all appear to diverge from it. I was unable last 

 evening to prove the correctness of this theorj', as I had no celestial map, 

 and unfortunately I know not the exact position in the heavens of y Leonis, 

 nor the constellation in which it is placed, but this could be easily ascertained, 

 and I shall therefore look again tonight at the quarter from whence this 

 meteor came and see if the star alluded to is anywhere near, as I have no 

 doubt Herschel is right. We should now be on the qui vive every evening 

 for these interesting phsenomena, as by a more extended series of observations 

 a greater knowledge might be gained as to the real nature of these singular 

 though beautiful periodical visitors. With hopes that you will excuse this 

 hasty and imperfect sketch. — Astkr." — Bombay Times, Nov. 8. 

 " 7th November, 1850." 



" A Correspondent sends us the following : — ' A meteor was observed 

 from the Esplanade a few minutes before 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening, 

 leaving an extraordinary train, traced one-third its flight midway from start- 

 ing-point, and continuing in view all the time we remained there, say 15 mi- 

 nutes. Had our attention been drawn thereto accidentally, after the explo- 

 sion of the meteor, we must have taken it for the comet expected in July last. 

 Its course was from about 15° S.W. above Jupiter to 15° due south above 

 the horizon ; most brilliant and rapid in its descent, when it burst into 

 numerous minor lights, much in the style of artificial meteors or sky-rockets, 

 observed before from the same position.' " — Telegraph and Courier, Nov. 8, 

 1850. 



No. 1 6, — "Novemher Meteors. — The attention of several observers has lately 

 been directed to the heavens, in hopes of seeing some indications of those 

 annual ' showers of falling stars ' which are noticed in November. Most of 

 them appear to have been disappointed in their expectations, — lost their sleep 

 and watched in vain. Sublunary affairs, unsought things, often fall in our 

 way, while we pui-sue others to no purpose. By chance we found ourselves 

 on the morning of the 14th toiling, not up, we are thankful to say, but down 

 the * many- winding way ' of the Bhore Ghaut (the mountain pass betwixt 



