54 



ASTRONOMICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



Schiaparelli's advantages in the way of keen 

 and trained eye-sight, and telescopic and atmos- 

 pheric definition are beyond challenge. Hith- 

 erto the puzzle has received no satisfactory so- 

 lution, for Mr. Proctor's suggestion that the 

 canals are rivers is quite irreconcilable with 

 the account Prof. Schiaparelli has given of the 



The Chief Meteor-Showers. W. F. Denning 



gives, in the January, 1888, number of " Month- 

 ly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society," 

 a list of the chief meteor-showers, derived from 

 his observations made during the past fifteen 

 years, the positions being corrected for preces- 

 sion, and brought up to 1890. 



NOTES. 2. Probably moving in orbit of Comet I, 1861. 3. Have orbital resemblance to Halley's comet. 5. Obvious 

 displacement of radiant point from night to night. May have some connection with Cornet III, 1662. 6. Radiant shows no 

 displacement. 7. Observed from earliest times. Seen by Humboldt, 1799. Magnificent return in 1S38, and splendid shower 

 in 1S66. Very meager during the last fifteen years, These meteors form a complete ellipse, and the earth meets a lew at 

 every passage through the node. But the meteors are nearly all massed in the neighborhood of their parent, Comet I, 1866. 

 It is supposed that there are minor groups of meteors pursuing the same orbit ; if so, we may have a revival of this display 

 In 1S38, for on the night of Nov. 12, 1S22-, shooting-stars, mingled with balls of fire, were seen in vast numbers at Potsdam, 

 by Kloden. 8. Observed in 1798. Recurred in 1838. Very brilliant showers, Nov. 27, 1>72. and 1>5. It is uncertain 

 whether this group forms an unbrokcu stream or not. Returns of the showers should be looked for in Is92 and 1898. 



appearances he has observed. But it is quite 

 likely that Proctor's further suggestion that 

 they are 'optical products,' neither objective 

 realities nor optical illusions, but phenomena of 

 diffraction, may prove more satisfactory. Fur- 

 ther observations are urgently desired to test 

 the point observations not confined to two or 

 three favorable nights near opposition, but be- 

 gun early and ended late, and carried on with 

 the most persistent continuity." 



In the "Astronomical Jonrn;il" for August, 

 1888, Prof. Asaph Hall, of Washington, D. C., 

 says he made very careful observations of Mars 

 during June, 1888. These were begun in the 

 twilight, and were continued for eighteen 

 nights, but he was unable to see anything like 

 the regular canals drawn by the European 

 observers. The only remarkable change he 

 noticed was the diminution in the size of the 

 white spot at the south pole of the planet. 

 These observations were made with the great 

 26-inch instrument. 



In the "Astronomical Journal" for Septem- 

 ber, Prof. Holden, of Lick Observatory, gives 

 a series of drawings of Mars, as seen with the 

 great 86 inch Lick telescope. He reports that 

 they have seen none of the canals double, al- 

 though many of the more important have been 

 sketched as broad bands covering the spaces on 

 Schiaparelli's map that are occupied by pairs 

 of canals. The observations also fail to discover 

 any important changes in the continent Libya, 

 which had been reported as submerged. 



Jupiter. A remnant of the great red spot 

 is still to be observed in the planet's southern 

 hemisphere. This " rosy cloud " was first fig- 

 ured and described by Prof. C. W. Pritcbett, of 

 Morrison Observatory, Glasgow, Missouri, on 

 July 9, 1878. The persistency of the spot has 

 led some observers to consider that they were 

 looking at the solid body of the planet through 

 a hole, as it were, in Jupiter's clouds. 



Mr. Denning gives some interesting data as 

 to heights of fire-balls and shooting- stars. 

 Eighty fire-balls, between 1865 and 1887, gave 

 an average height at beginning of 69'2 miles, 

 and 30'2 miles at end of flight. Comparing 

 these heights with the heights of meteors 

 (nearly all shooting-stars of the first magni- 

 tude or fainter), he gives the following table : 



* Stars seen in 1887. 



A careful discussion of the various records 

 gives the following mean relative heights : 



It is supposed that telescopic meteors are at 

 still greater elevations than the brighter forms 

 of these bodies. 



Meteorites. In April, 1888, Prof. H. A. 

 Newton read before the National Academy of 

 Sciences a paper "Upon the Relation which 

 the Former Orbits of those Meteorites that are 

 in our Collections, and that were seen to fall, 

 had to the Earth's Orbit." His studies lead 

 him to adopt three propositions: 1. The mete- 

 orites that we have in our cabinets, which 

 were seen to fall, were originally (as a class 

 and with few exceptions), moving about the 

 sun in orbits that had inclinations less than 

 90; that is, their motions were direct, not, 

 retrograde. 2. Either the stones that are mov- 

 ing in the solar system across the earth's orbit 

 move in general in direct orbits ; or else, for 

 some reason, the stones that move in retro- 

 grade orbits do not in general come through 



