No\-EMBER 1, 1900.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



231 



aud equipped, on some well-solocU'd eminence, far 

 from industrial centres, then may we look forward to 



FlS. 11.— The Nucleus ol' tl,<- linat .\<l.ulu in Andromeda (M 31), 

 Tiewed with the Great Telescope on 1900, September 1. (Field 

 of i'.) 



having probably more cogent proofs of its superiority 

 over the telescopes made to the present time. 



ASTRONOMY WITHOUT A TELESCOPE. 



By E. Walter Maundee, f.e.a.s. 



X.— THE METEORS OF NOVEMBER. 



There can be no doubt as to the appropriate subject 

 to which to call the attention of the " a.stronomer with- 

 out a telescope" in this present month. Two great 

 periodical meteor showers come to their node at this 

 time, and all the circumstances of the case should com- 

 bine to attract the attention of the observer. The 

 possibility that we may have a display which by its mere 

 magnificence would most fully reward the watcher, will 

 perhaps be the point which appeals to the gi'eatest 

 niunber. A far higher claim is to be found in the 

 number of impoi-tant questions connected with the two 

 showers, and especially with that of the Leonids, which 

 still wait further observation for their settlement. 



So much has been written the last year or two about 

 the great Leonid shower that there is little need to go 

 much into detail. The history of the shower goes back 

 1000 years to October 12, 902 a.d., a sufficient number 

 of records being extant between this date and November 



11, 1799, to show that the shower came in gieat force on 

 an average three times in a centuiy, and that the day 

 of the shower was moving slowly onwards in the year. 

 The astonishing display which took place on November 



12, 1833, which from the accounts preserved would seem 

 to have been the most impressive astronomical spectacle 

 ever witnessed, proved the birth of meteoric astronomy, 

 and the labours of Prof. Newton and Prof. Adams estab- 

 lished the fact that the shower was duo to an immense 

 swarm of meteors travelling in an elliptic orbit round 

 the sun in a period of 33| years; while Prof. Schia- 

 parelli showed that Tempel's Comet, 1866, I., moved in 

 practically the same path. 



The great shower of November 13, 1866, added much 

 to our knowledge, and important but less abundant dis- 

 plays were seen in the two following years. After 1869, 



conspicuous showei-s from tho radiant in Leo ceased, 

 but trained meteor observers liave hardly ever failed to 

 notice a few characteristic mcteoi-s from this point of 

 tho heavens on November 11, or tho nights imuudiatcly 

 preceding aud following. 



As there appeared to be a slight increase in tho 

 number of mcteoi-s as early as 1896, public expectation 

 of a i-epetition of the grand spectacles of 1833 and 1866 

 began to be excited in November, 1898, and the interest 

 w;is increased the following year. It is matter of 

 history that on neither occasion was there anything to 

 answer expectation ; a few Leonids indeed were seen, but 

 nothing which by the utmost stretch of language could 

 bo described as a great shower. The reason of the 

 failure is matter rather of conjecture than of knowledge. 

 Dr. Johnstone Stoney and Dr. Downing consider 

 that the orbit of the meteors has been so far per- 

 turbed that the main stream now passes clear or nearly 

 clear of tho earth's orbit, and that our chance of 

 seeing a tine shower from Leo this year is less even 

 than it was last. Our knowledge, however, of tho 

 condition of the meteor stream is so slight that we aro 

 scarcely justified in hazarding any prophecy. We have 

 gauged the stream at various intervals in its enormous 

 length, but inasmuch as we have never succeeded in 

 seeing the stream in the open sky, wo know nothing 

 of it except from the members of the swarm which we 

 actually eucoiinter. In other words, we know nothing 

 of tho stream except of such portions of it as the earth 

 has already destroyed. We have, therefore, no right to 

 give up hope of the retui'n of the shower until the 

 fateful days arc come and gone. 



Should the Leonids revisit us in force either this year 

 or in 1901, the simplest, and for the inexperienced 

 observer, the most useful observation to make, will be 

 that of counting. Counts may be made in two ways. 

 A watch may be kept for a definite time — five minutes, 

 ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour — and the number 

 of meteors seen in that time noted ; or starting from a 

 chosen instant, a watch may be kept till ten, twenty, or 

 thirty meteors have been observed, and then the time 

 taken again. The result of the observation in either 

 case should be given at the rate of so many meteors an 

 hour. The observer will find it well to select a definite 

 portion of the sky for his work, carefully recording tho 

 boundaries which he assigns to himself; bright and well 

 known stais should bo chosen to mark the limits of 

 tho field he is scrutinizing. If three or four observers 

 can work together, the entire sky should be divided 

 between them. 



The special object of these counts in the case of a 

 great Leonid shower would be to determine whether the 

 stream still appeared, as on several iormor occasions, 

 to be divided into three distinct sections, tho middle or 

 principal section being separated from those preceding 

 and following by a nearly quiescent interval of about 

 six hours. Tho counts would sufiice to show whether 

 the stream was still divided into the same throe sections, 

 or whether it had become still more complex in char- 

 acter, and it would also furnish an index of tho relative 

 richness of the different portions. 



For those who have some experience in meteoric work 

 the most important duty would be the noting of meteoric 

 paths. This work should bo carried on over as long an 

 interval as possible, the object being to get good and 

 sharp determinations of tho r;wliant at successive hours 

 during the night in order that if possible the effect upon 

 tho apparent radiant point of the rotation of the earth 

 may be made clear. This work had, however, be best 



