Meteor of Dec. 14, 1S37. 131 



Thinking it probable that some portion of this meteor had fallen 

 in the southwestern part of this State, I made inquiries by letter in 

 various towns in that region. At Wilton, (28 miles, about W. by 

 S. from this city,) the meteor was seen by several persons, and 

 their testimony was kindly collected for me, by Mr. Hawley 01m- 

 stead- Mr. Edward Baldwin, one of the observers at that place, has 

 given me some additional details. For observations at a spot 

 about seven miles S. W. from Wilton, I am indebted to Rev. 

 Theophilus Smith of New Canaan. At Wilton^ the meteor pas- 

 sed a little south of the zenith, in a westerly direction. It grad- 

 ually enlarged until just before the explosion,' and at the largest, 

 it was of ^^ the magnitude of one fourth of the moon." The bril- 

 hancy of the meteor was exceedingly great, and rendered minute 

 objects on the ground distinctly visible. Its light was so intense 

 that it arrested the attention of a person engaged in study in his 

 room with two candles burning before him. The train was long, 

 and remained in sight several seconds after the explosion. When 

 25^ or 30? above the horizon, the meteor exploded with a heavy 

 report, which, according to the mean of various estimates, reached 

 the ear in about thirty seconds afterwards. One or more of the 

 observers saw luminous fragments descend towards the ground. 

 Most of the witnesses imagined that they heard a whizzing noise, 

 as the meteor passed over their heads ; but this could not have 

 been noticed until several seconds after the meteor's passage. 



After collecting numerous observations from witnesses in vari- 

 ous places, I found that they were not sufficiently exact and con- 

 cordant to enable me to give a satisfactory account of the meteor, 

 and I was for some time uncertain whether it was worth while to 

 publish them. The following are the results which were ob- 

 tained. The direction of the path of the meteor while visible, 

 was probably one or two degrees N. of W. and inclined down- 

 wards. The length ofitspathy and its relative velocity^ can only 

 be roughly conjectured, as I do not find that any one saw the 

 meteor at its earliest appearance. Its path while visible may 

 have been from 15 to 20 miles long. On account of the direction 



of the earth's motion at the moment, the relative velocity of the 

 meteor was probably less than the absolute, but how much less 

 cannot be determined, as we do not know the angle which its 



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path made with our 



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surface 



