330 Shooting Stars of August 9 and 10, 1840. 
so that we may safely conclude that on the night of the 9th and 
10th August, 1840, shooting stars were here at least six times as 
numerous as usual. 
2. Place of the radiant. A ae majority of the meteors 
moved, as is usual on these occasions, in paths which were doubt- 
less nearly parallel. Their visible tracks appeared to us to diverge 
from a region about the cluster in the sword-handle of Perseus, 
bat it was not easy to determine within three or four degrees the 
centre of this region. ‘l'o make this determination with much 
precision, the track of each meteor must be noted on a star-chart, 
as has in several instances been done by observers in Europe. 
This we could not conveniently do without numerous assistants. 
According to observations made at the Kénigsberg Observatory, 
Aug. 10 and 11, 1839, (Astr. Nach. No. 385, p. 1,) the point of 
divergence was then near the head of Perseus, which differs 
scarcely at all from the determination made here. ‘The observa- 
tions made at Breslau, in August, 1839, by a corps of fifteen ob- 
servers, (see this Journ Vol. xxxviu, p. 203,) would furnish am- 
ple materials for settling the place of the radiant with all the 
precision of which the case admits. The general apparent course 
of the meteors must have been towards a — little west of 
south, 
3. Time of maximum. The determination of the time of the 
night at which the meteors are most numerous is an peaportartt 
element in ascertaining the direction of the “meteoric stream.” 
The observations of the present year agree with what appeared 
most probable from the observations made in this country last 
year, that the maximum occurs after three o'clock in the moruing. 
This agrees nearly with the results of observations made by 
Colla and others, at Parma, in Italy, on the 9th and 10th of xi 
1839, (Bull. Acad. de Brux. vi: 9, p. 11,) but other European 
observers have reported the meteors of the August epoch no less 
abundant before than after midnight. I can not doubt that in 
this country at least, and probably throughout the northern hemi- 
sphere, the meteors of this season are most numerous as late as 
three in the morning. 
ae Apparent sizes, colors, ee We kept no account of the ap- 
parent’sizes of the meteors, and can only say, in general, that as 
as 50 equaled the planet Jupiter, and a few surpassed it in 
or, and about 200 were equal or superior to stars of the 
