SHOWERS OF SHOOTING STARS. 243 



We shall now be able to explain the chief features 

 exhibited by the famous showers. In the first plac a 

 shower can only occur in that precise locality where the 

 earth in its path crosses the path of the meteors. This 

 junction is of course at a definite part of the earth's path. 

 We may conveniently mark such a point in the path by 

 the date at which the earth is to be found there in the 

 progress of its annual voyage. This particular point, or 

 rather region, of crossing happens to be in the place 

 through which the earth passes each year between the 

 14th and the 16th of November. Hence it follows that if 

 we are to see any Leonids at all it can only be at these 

 dates, and thus we at once explain that peculiar feature of 

 the shower, which is expressed in the fact that it can only 

 recur on certain special days. 



Scattered along the great meteoric highway run those 

 irregular meteors that have forsaken the main host, either 

 by rushing on too fast or by delaying too much. As the 

 earth swoops across the highway it will be very likely, 

 indeed it will be certain, to capture some of these strag- 

 glers. They will appear to us who stand on the surface far 

 below to dart in from the constellation of Leo. Thus it is 

 from the 14th to the 16th November we often witness some 

 of the shooting stars belonging to this particular system. 

 As these stragglers are but few in number, we shall not 

 usually be gratified by any striking spectacle. A diligent 

 observer may note on such an occasion a dozen or twenty 

 Leonids, or sometimes even more, but they are neither 

 brilliant enough nor numerous enough to attract special 

 notice. 



Sometimes, however, it will happen that the earth 



