SHOWERS OF SHOOTING STARS. a 9 



downwards in brilliancy we find the meteors to increase 

 in numerical abundance. Shooting stars as bright as the 

 stars of the second or third magnitude are comparatively 

 frequent ; they are still more numerous of the fourth and 

 fifth magnitudes. Every night brings its tale of shooting 

 stars whose brightness is just sufficient to impress the 

 unaided eye. Nor do the shooting stars which even 

 the most attentive eye can detect represent a fraction 

 of their entire number. As there are telescopic stars 

 which the unaided eye cannot see, so it might fairly be 

 conjectured that, as we can trace meteors of successive 

 stages of brightness down to the limit of unaided eye 

 visibility, so there may be meteors still and still smaller 

 which would be detected could we only direct a telescope 

 towards them. If it be impossible to turn a telescope 

 with sufficient dexterity to scan a visible shooting star, 

 how, it may well be asked, can we use the telescope to 

 discover shooting stars which the unaided eye cannot 

 see? 



We must here depend entirely, or almost entirely, 

 on the chapter of accidents. The observer who really 

 sought to discover telescopic shooting stars would gene- 

 rally find that many hours of watching were rewarded 

 with but very meagre results. No doubt if, at properly 

 appointed times, he directed his telescope to certain 

 particular constellations, he would have more prospect of 

 success than if he merely pointed his telescope at random. 

 But though the experience of actually looking out for 

 telescopic shooting stars has not led to much, yet every 

 astronomer who is in the habit of making nightly obser- 

 vations with a good telescope, in almost any branch of 



