108 The Sky 
by their mutual gravitational fields. Meteors that reach the 
surface of the land or sea are spoken of as meteorites. 
A GIANT METEORITE CRATER 
In Arizona there is a crater 4000 feet in diameter, 600 feet 
deep, which was caused by the impact of a meteorite several 
thousand years ago. More recently, on June 30, 1908, a great 
swarm of meteorites fell in the forests of Siberia. The heat 
was felt fifty miles away, trees were leveled, houses damaged. 
The latitude of the fall was the same as that of St. Peters- 
burg. If the fall had occurred a few hours later it might 
easily have demolished that famous city completely. 
Of course the meteorites that fall at sea do not leave per- 
manent markings for us to investigate at our leisure, but 
there is no reason to suspect that they would prefer dry 
land to the oceans. One Sunday, a few years ago, a yachts- 
man was enjoying a peaceful afternoon in his power boat 
on the Long Island Sound. The blissful quiet was unexpect- 
edly shattered by an explosion and large splash. Fearful that 
he had come within range of some coast artillery practice he 
hastily departed from the region, only to find out later that 
there had been no artillery practice that day. It has been 
suggested that the inexplicable noise and splash were caused 
by a falling meteorite. 
METEOR TIMETABLE 
The most conspicuous meteor showers are likely to be ob- 
served within a few nights of the following days each year: 
January 2, April 20, May 6, July 8, August 12, October 20, 
November 24 and December 10. Each of these groups has its 
own peculiar characteristics, some are slow and yellow 
