238 



KNOWLEDGE 



[October 1, 1898. 



hundred, and it was estimated that altogether six hundred 

 shooting stars were seen here. In England the eky was 

 not so clear on August 10th as on August 11th, but many 

 meteors were seen on both nights. The very exceptional 

 clearness of the atmosphere on the latter date enabled the 

 best view to be obtained, and the progress of the shower 

 was watched by Prof. Herschel at Slough, Mr. Corder, 

 Bridgwater, Mr. Blakeley, Dewsbury, Rev. S. J. Johnson, 

 Bridport, Rev. T. E. R. Phillips, Yeovil, Mr. Besley, 

 Exeter, Mr. Townshend, Paignton, Mr. King, Leicester, 

 the writer at Bristol, and many others. 



The display was sufliciently marked to attract the notice 

 of many people, who, though quite unaware that such an 

 event was expected, had their attention accidentally 

 called to it by the surprising frequency and occasional 

 brilliancy of the meteors. Though the maximum of the 

 shower must have probably occurred before the night of 

 August 11th, a single observer watching the sky inter- 

 ruptedly might have counted about fifty meteors per hour, 

 and of these about forty would have been Perseids. They 

 were characterized by the usual swiftness of motion, and 

 almost invariably left green streaks. In several cases the 

 streak would brighten up in a very perceptible manner 

 after the nucleus had vanished ; some of the meteors were, 

 in fact, only observed in the form of streaks, the nuclei 

 having been so faint as to elude observation. The whole 

 duration of the shower appears to have been from July 

 14th to August 17th, but it was very feebly manifested at 

 the opening and closing stages. The centre from whence 

 the meteors diverged was variously fixed by several ob- 

 servers as under : — 



July 20 21 +51 



28 32 +65 



29 31 +54 

 August 10 45 +58 



11 45 +58 



11 45 +58 

 11 46-4 + 57-6 



11 46 +58 



(39 +60 



11 ^45 +57^ 



(46 +53 



11 40 +5G 



14 54 +59 



6 

 4 

 25 

 40 

 81 

 28 



20 



4 



W. E. Besley. 



E. r'.' Blakeley. 

 A. King. 

 E. R. Blakeley. 

 W. E. Besley. 

 W. F. D. 

 A. King. 



T. E. R. Phillips. 



H. J. Townshend. 

 A. King. 



Fireballs. — In twilight, on August 11th, and before 

 observers had commenced watching for the Perseids, a 

 beautiful meteor, rivalling Venus at her best, and slowly 

 pursuing a long horizontal path in the southern sky, was 

 seen by many persons. Amongst those were, fortunately, 

 several astronomical amateurs who recorded the apparent 

 path very accurately. Descriptions were received from 

 Bridgwater, Slough, Bristol, London, Henley-on-Thames, 

 Stroud, Gloucester, Wimbledon, Clevedon, South Croydon, 

 Bengeo, Herts, Birmingham, Eastbourne, the English 

 Channel, and other places. The nucleus of the meteor 

 was white, and as it slowly travelled from east to west it 

 threw off a shower of yellowish sparks, and finally broke 

 up into fragments. A mere remnant of the meteor pursued 

 its course with an exceedingly slow motion about eight 

 degrees further ; it looked like a spark sailing along on 

 the wind and vanished suddenly without any train. On 

 examining the observations the meteor was found to be an 

 Aquarid, with a radiant at 339° - 10°. When first seen 

 its height was sixty-six miles over the mouth of the Seine, 

 France, and at disappearance its height was forty-one 

 miles over a point three miles south-west of Okehampton, 

 Devon. The length of its observed flight was one hundred 



and ninety-six miles, and computed velocity twenty-two 

 miles per second. 



On August 21st, at 9h. IGm., during a thunderstorm and 

 frequently vivid lightning in the West of England (when, 

 however, a part of the sky remained clear), a very fine 

 meteor was noticed at several places. An excellent view 

 of it was obtained by Prof. Herschel at Slough, who says 

 that at first the nucleus was yellowish and as bright as 

 Jupiter, then it expanded pretty rapidly until it equalled 

 Venus, and became of a splendid, light emerald green 

 colour, finally increasing to 1} x Venus after going a little 

 further. The course may have begun one and a half 

 degrees below •>) Aquarii, but it must have been thirty 

 degrees long from 330" - 61° to 303° - 20=. Duration of 

 flight five seconds. When as bright as Venus the nucleus 

 appeared to be globular, but afterwards assumed a crescent 

 shape with a tail of yellow sparks about two or three 

 degrees long, and some six or eight minutes wide. The 

 same meteor was observed by Mr. A. R. Schutz at 

 Worthing, sailing slowly from 345" + 10° to 318|° + 5°, 

 when it disappeared suddenly. He describes the colour as 

 pale bluish-green — the tail was red. At Cirencester the 

 meteor was obsers'ed by Miss E. Brown, who estimated the 

 nucleus as more brilliant than Venus. The direction was 

 from the square of Pegasus, north to south, below / Aquarii. 

 The colour was white changing to greenish-blue. The 

 meteor was directed from a radiant point at 5°+ 13", close to 

 y Pegasi. It began over France, about fifteen miles south- 

 east of Cressy, at a height of sixty miles, and its flight 

 being directed westwards, it crossed over a portion of the 

 English Channel, and disappeared over a point about 

 thirty-six miles south of Brighton. Whole length of path 

 ninety-five miles, and velocity about nineteen miles per 

 second. The meteor belonged to a tolerably well-known 

 minor shower, and it seems highly probable that the 

 splendid fireballs observed in Austria on August 25th, 1884, 

 and in Germany on August 2Gth, 1858, were members of 

 the same stream, as their radiants, determined by Von 

 Niessl, were in the same region. 



During recent observations of the Perseids, a number of 

 the same meteors were observed at two or more stations. 

 The real paths of these have been computed, and the average 

 heights, etc., of fifteen of these were as follow : — 



Height at 

 First Appearance. 



74i miles. 



Height at 

 Disappearance. 



54 miles. 



Length of 

 Patli. 



47i miles. 



The late somewhat brilliant return of the Perseids and the 

 success which attended the observations encourage the hope 

 that the year 189H will prove a memorable one as regards 

 the exhibition of meteoric showers. In November next, 

 on the morning of the 15th, and on about the 23rd, we 

 have the prospect of witnessing two brilliant showers if 

 the weather should prove favourable. In October many 

 meteors are often seen from about the 18th to the 20th, 

 from a radiant at 91°+ 15°, but the display is usually at its 

 best in the morning hours. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY FOR OCTOBER. 



By A. Fo^'LER, F.R.A.S. 



THE state of solar activity about the present time is 

 very micertain, but large spots can scarcely be 

 expected, and one need not be surprised to find 

 occasional spotless days. Nevertheless, the 

 appearance of the great spot of last month warns 

 ns not to imagine that the actual sun-spot minimum is 

 close at hand. 



Mercury is a morning star during the early part of 



