53S 



NA TURE 



[September 27, 1S94 



Those fortuoate persons who happened to be out of doors at the 

 time named, were startled by a bright lightning-like flash,' and 

 naturally looking upwards for the cause, they either saw the end 

 part of a fine meteor, or the dense streak it had projected ns a 

 glowing column of phosphorescence upon the dark ground of 

 the sky. This streak was quite a remarkable feature in connec- 

 tion wiih the meteor, for on three grounds it merits careful con- 

 sideration — viz. for its duration, for the proper motion it soon 

 exhibited under the influence of the atmospheric current in 

 which it was situated, and for the nondescript shapes it assumed. 

 Before giving any particulars it may, however, be interesting to 

 quote from .some of the descriptions. 



Mr. H. Cordcr, Bridgwater, writes that on .\ugust 26, 10.20, 

 there was a very interesting meteor, but that its actual descent 

 was unfortunately hidden by a wall. He afterwards, however, 

 saw a bright streak in the position 138" -f 62° to 137^° -f 58; . 

 Thi-, as seen with a binocular, soon became crooked, and drilted 

 very slowly, until it finally disappeared at 10.50, half an hour 

 alterwards, at the point q8° f 64°. Mr. Corder adds that this 

 is the longest duration of any meteor-streak he has ever seen.- 



:>^ 



Frc. I. — Succcf&ive appearances of the meteor-streak as observed by .Mr. 

 Corder at Fridgwalcr. 



Mr. S. A. Saunder, Crowlhorne, near Wokingham, reports 

 the time as lO. ig. The length of the meteor's path, as he 

 observed it, was about 20 ; it moved quickly, and left a 

 persistent streak of about 3" in length some 5 above its jioint of 

 disappearance. This remained visible as a distinct trail for 20 

 or 30 seconds, and as a decreasing luminous patch at about 

 185 ■¥ 44' lor two or three minutes. The path must have 

 slightly preceded t Ur^a; Majoris, and probably crossed i90°-f 57 



A correspondent, writing to the Daily Xr.vs from Wood 

 Grten, says that at 10. iS he observed an exceptionally brilliant 

 meteor about the size of acrickel-ball and of a pale blue colour. 

 It appeared near to the foremost star in Ursa .Major, and was 

 visible for some seconds. The chief peculiarity in addition to 

 its great brilliancy, was that it left a long broad trail of light in 

 the sky, which remained some time after the meteor had 

 vanished, and then faded away very slowly. 



Mr. E. W. Coker, writing from Coventry to the Engliih 

 Attchauic, stDtes that at 10.20 he observed a nebulous light in 

 the north-west pan of the heavens. Its form was elongated, 

 and he compares it with a dense cluster of star-dust. He saw 

 it first through a window with the naked eye, and brought a 

 telescope to bear upon il, but it had evidently passed its brightest, 

 and was then fading rapidly. lis situation w.as in 213 -f 48'. 



Colonel G. I,. Tupman h.is kindly sent me two observations 

 from Harrow, which mutually corroborate each other as to the 

 end point near a Booiis (Arcturus) in azimuth iio west of 

 south, and altitude 11' or 12°. The streak endured so long that 

 one of the observers got a telescope and watched it for some 

 time. He remarked that the lower part of the streak and 

 Arcturus would have been in the field o( his tinder together. 



Mr. T. .\I. Dunmur, writing (rom Trefriw, says: — "The 

 meteor, while excelling in brightness though not in duration of 

 flight any that I have had the good fortune to witness, was in 

 respect of the glowing trail which succeeded quite unprece- 

 dented in my experience. It was vividly luminous, and the 

 denier portion at once began 10 collect in a semicircular shape. 

 This breaking. up absorbed the remainder of the trail, and still 

 clearly viiible slonly drilted toward, across, and beyond the 

 ' .Mrlky W.ay,' when it faded from sight not less than eight 

 minutes from its fir.st appearance." 



There arc some other descriptions from the Midlands and 

 .Souih of ICngland, but it is singular ihat no re|iorts have come 

 to hand Irom North Wales, Cheshire, and Lancashire, over 

 which the region the meteor ap|>earcd, and where its brilliancy 

 must certainly have been very great. 



' The flash wa« teen hy (he wriier at I'.ri«tn1 while cmel-teeking. but the 

 mefeor ilaelfand il« •Ire-.ik were hidden by a hoUM which obstructs the view 



(jf .1 - . .1 - -.1 '--sky. 



■.ir-ak ever «een by the wriier was that of a Leonid 

 • 1 1 on November 13, i860 at 12.30, and left a visible 



U'.Aw. I'^r ini.r 'j j..fi':f» ofan hour. 



On comparing the various observations together, it is found 

 that they agree much better than is usually the case in a mis- 

 cellaneous collection of this sort. The real path of the meteor 

 in the air is therefore determinable within very moderate limit.s 

 of error. The Harrow position near Arcturus for the end part 

 of the streak, offers, however, a discordance with the other 

 observations, and there is reason to suppose that the star a Canum 

 Venaticum was mistaken for .Vrcturus. It is necessary for con- 

 sistency that the azimuth of 1 10 west of south, as seen from 

 Harrow, should be increased to 132° west of soiuh, when it 

 will be correctly directed towards Denbigh, near which place 

 the meteor streak was situated «hen first evolved. 



When the meteor was first seen it was about 90 miles high 

 and over the river Mersey, at a point 20 miles west of Orms- 

 kiik. Passing rapidly almost dui- south, it ended at a height of 

 30 miles above Ruthin, Denbighshire. The angle of the 

 meteor's descent was 63 , and the length of its observed path 

 66 miles. The earth-point is indicated 6 miles south of 

 Llangollen, and the astronomical radiant was at 305" -I- 79" 

 near the ^\ mag. star k Cepliei. This position is confirmed 

 by a statement of Mr. Cordei's, that he saw a few other meteors 

 giving a radiant at 300° -^ 80°, and believed the large meteor 

 would be found to belong to it, though its direction was nol 

 precisely conformable. 



The luminous sireak was about 9 miles in length, and its 

 central portion 47 miles high over a place 6 miles east-north- 

 east of r)enbit;h. The tlirection of its drift was eastwards 

 towards Chester, and it passed over that town at a height of 6S 

 miles, so that it «as ascending rapidly in the atmosphere. It 

 disappeared, according to the last view obtained of it by Mr. 

 Corder, at 10.50 wiih his binoculars, when vertically over a 

 point 2 miles west of Middlewich at a height o( S3 miles. The 

 angle of its .ascent was 49% and during the 30 minutes of its 

 visibility it tiaversed 4S miles, so that its rate of motion w.is 141 

 feet tier second, or 96 miles per hour. This velocity is abnut 

 equal to that of one of the most destructive hurricanes possible. 

 The movement of the streak was probably controlled by two in- 

 fluences, the easterly direction being due to a wind current in 

 the upper atmosphere, while its rapid ascent was a necessary 

 consequence of the light gaseous material of which it was com- 

 posed. 



The relative angles of descent of the meteor and ascent of 

 its streak are shown in the following diagram :— 



.Horizon 



NO. IjCO, VOL. 50] 



Meteor Streak 



.■\ttlie time of the meteor's appearance the air appears to have 

 been pretty calm ; in the north of England the wind was very 

 slight frome.asi, while in the south the direction was from south. 

 The surface current would therefore appear to have been very 

 diflerent to Ihat at a great altilude. 



The radiant of the fireball is not a well-known one for the 

 date, but in 1893 1 saw a few meteors during the period from 

 August 4 16 (rom 310' t 77°, and in 1SS5, September 4 5, a 

 leelile radiant was .-een at 315° + 76°. On .September I, 1S7S, 

 at 10.20, 1 ob.'ervcd a very brilliant streak-leaving meteor with 

 a path (rfim 161+70° to 155' + 56°, and attributed the r.idiani 

 as at 315 -f 76'. On .Septembers, 187S, and on Sipleniber 7, 

 iSSS, 1 saw fireballs, brighter ihan \enus, that were <lirected 

 (rom the same radiant point. There would appear, therefore, to 

 be a well defined shower if laige meteors from the northern 

 pan of Cepheus at the close of .Vugust and beginning of 

 September. Mr. Corder also informs me that on September 8._ 

 at 1 1.3, he saw another fireball descending from 142"-!- 54" 

 to 144 t 51 in Ursa M.njor. The same object w.as seen 

 at Leeds, Irom which place it was projected on the stars of 

 Aquarius, and there is reason to believe that this brilliant 

 meteor, like that o( August 26, and the fireballs of September 

 1S7S and 1.S8S, before referred to, h.ad (heir derivation (rom the 

 shower of k Cephcids. W. F. Denmnc. 



