METEOES AND METEORITES. 



horizon. Taking the inclination of the plane 

 of the group to the ecliptic as about twice the 

 latitude of the radiant, or 19, and considering 

 the denser shower to have lasted l h 30 m , the 

 earth moving in this time about 100,000 miles, 

 the corresponding thickness of the group would 

 be 100,000 x sin 19=33,000 miles. Observa- 

 tions, accordingly, made on either hemisphere 

 before and after the time of the main shower, 

 would correspond to periods during which the 

 earth was passing into and then out of the 

 spaces contiguous to the denser or proper ring 

 [segment, or cloud], and would show the com- 

 parative distribution and frequency of meteor- 

 oidal bodies in such spaces. In the same view, 

 since the radiant in Leo rises above our horizon 

 about 11 P. M., corresponding (for the long, of 

 Philadelphia) with 4 A. M., Greenwich time, 

 the observations made in this country from 

 midnight onward on the morning of the 14th, 

 may be regarded as a continuation of those 

 interrupted by twilight on the same morning 

 in England. 



On the night of November 12-13th, twelve 

 observers together at New Haven, Conn., saw, 

 from 11" 10 m to l h 40, a total of 236 meteors, 

 generally small, and few from Leo ; and again, 

 from 2" 40 m to 5 h 30, 458 meteors, the propor- 

 tion of conformable ones increasing, but being 

 at 5 h still less than one-half. At the same place, 

 another group - of ten observers counted COS 

 meteors from O h to 5 h A. M. An account from 

 Washington places the rate of appearance at 

 3 A.M. of the same night at about 180 per hour, 

 a large proportion conformable, and many of 

 the trains being of a bluish color. 



On the night of the 13-1 4th, observations 

 were made at many points throughout Great 

 Britain, between the hours of about 11 p. M. 

 and 5 A. M. A few extracts from a table of the 

 numbers of meteors during 5-minute intervals, 

 prepared by Mr. Symons, will serve to outline 

 the course of the shower ; thus 



17 meteors. 



41 



Oh. 45m. 87 

 lh. 264 



lh. 15m. 276 

 2h. 48 



3h. 26 



4h. 45m. 4 



These results, pretty closely agreeing with 

 those of other observers, show that, irrespective 

 of visibility of the constellation Leo, which was 

 quite as favorable for some time both before 

 and after the main shower, yet the accession 

 of the latter was quite rapid a little before 1", 

 and its cessation about 2 h quite or nearly as 

 rapid ; though during about 5-J hours, from 

 11 P. M. to 4:30 A. M., the frequency was greater 

 than usual even for ordinary years of the No- 

 vember period. Some observers placed the 

 number of meteors at the time of the maximum 

 at about 100 per minute,' their appearance being 

 then often in batches or volleys of several at a 

 time, and two or more sometimes travelling 



In 5 minutes from llh. 45m. 

 Oh. 15m. 



close together. Mr. Hind states that, from 

 O h to 1.*, four observers counted 1,120 meteors, 

 and, thence on to about 1" 7 m , 514, the number 

 then becoming too great to admit of counting, 

 until l b 20 m , when a decline bec.ame perceptible. 

 Mr. Symons estimated the total number visible 

 (from 11 to 5, it would appear) at from 7,000 

 to 8,000, and others have placed it still higher. 



Noticeable features of the display were, the 

 comparative uniformity of size or brightness of 

 the meteors, and the absence of any of very re- 

 markable brilliancy. Mr. Baxendell considers the 

 average magnitude the third, while about one- 

 tenth of all were above the first magnitude, and 

 some equalled Jupiter, and even Venus at tho 

 brightest. Professor Grant's account, from 

 Glasgow, would make the proportion of meteors 

 brighter than the first magnitude, larger ; while, 

 after 2 p. M., their size diminished, and their 

 directions became more variable. 



A very large proportion of the meteors left 

 trains, but of brief duration rarely more than 

 2 to 3 seconds. Occasionally, meteors appeared 

 in the immediate neighborhood of the supposed 

 radiant, disappearing again without trains, or 

 showing at most only a short brush. The paths 

 of such were undoubtedly almost directly toward 

 the earth and the observer, and so, greatly fore- 

 shortened or invisible ; and the circumstance 

 confirmed the conclusion indicated by the di- 

 vergent courses of most of the others, in respect 

 to the location of the radiant point or area. 

 The plan of projecting at least a portion of the 

 meteor-paths seen on charts prepared for tho 

 purpose (in England on those of Herschel), was 

 of course adopted by many observers in both 

 hemispheres ; but the results of attempts to fix 

 the radiant point do not as yet precisely agree. 

 A position not far from y Lconis is pretty gen- 

 erally admitted. Prof. Newton's observations on 

 the morning of November 14th imply unless 

 the radiant moves an elliptical area, its length 

 in longitude some 3 or 4 ; while his determi- 

 nation of the preceding night places the centre 

 of the radiant in E. A. 147 30', Dec. + 23 15' ; 

 and Prof. Twining on the morning of the 14th 

 fixes that point in the same R. A., and Dec. 

 + 24 30'. Mr. Baxendell bounds the radiant 

 area by the stars y, , /*, e, and rj Leonis its 

 mean position in R. A. 149 33' (or, 147 33' ?), 

 and Dec. + 22 57'.5. The lengths of trains 

 during the principal display of the 14th, are by 

 different observers variously stated at from 15 

 to 25, and in some cases even 40 or more. 



The color of the nuclei in the main shower 

 was commonly white or bluish-white, some- 

 times orange-yellow or red. The trains are 

 spoken of as being greenish [some accounts say 

 bluish], gray, and white. Within the limits of 

 cities, indeed, the yellow cast thrown by gas- 

 lights upon a sky not wholly free from haze, 

 could by subjective contrast impart an apparent 

 bluish-green hue to trains actually gray or white. 

 Mr. H. J. Slack states, moreover, that some of 

 the trains were yellow and others reddish in 

 color. In some twelve or more instances in 



