OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 33 



It disappeared near B, which is equal to about R.A. 4'' 10™, Decl. S. 15°. 

 At A it left a train about 2° in length, -which endured for ten minutes. In 

 that portion of the sky near which the meteor disappeared many stratus 

 clouds were visible. 



" P.S. — I omitted to state that the brilliancy of the meteor excelled that 

 of any of the planets. When at its brightest the light was about equal to that 

 of a clear full moon. I only saw the disappearance." — William F. Denning, 

 Bristol, February 14th, 1871. 



HeteX 

 (fcuse ^ 



At Rugby the meteor was observed very bright at about %^ 10™ p.m., and 

 it was described as " starting from near Orionis, and proceeding towards a 

 point a little north of y Eridani, when it was lost behind a belt of cloud." 

 (Communicated to 'Nature,' February 16th, 1871, by J. M. Wilson.) 



These two descriptions of its visible path (apparently from the relative 

 positions of the stations) are so similar that little can be certainly concluded 

 from them regarding the real distance of the meteor. 



At Exeter " a briUiant meteor traversed the constellation of Orion, ap- 

 pearing near the Belt and passing from south to west. The direction was 

 south-west, altitude 35°. Its light equalled or exceeded that of fuU moon, 

 and it left a train of colours for some time." (' English Mechanic,' Feb. 24th.) 



At Torquay, " The meteor started near BeUatrix in Orion, altitude 35°, 

 passing due west, leaving in its track a brilliant train of colours, green pre- 

 dominating." (Ibid., March 3rd.) 



The meteor was also seen at Callington, in Cornwall, casting a brilliant dif- 

 fused light, and occupjdng two seconds in its transit. (Ibid.) 



By comparing together the foregoing observations of its course, and obtain- 

 ing an approximate estimation of its real height, Mr. Wood is led to adopt 

 the following provisional positions of its visible track. The meteor first 

 appeared at an elevation of fifty-five miles over the English Channel, seventy 

 miles S.S.W. from Torquay. It thence descended, with an inclination of 

 16°, to a height of thirty-five miles over a point sixty-four miles west of 

 Torquay, thus describing, from S.E. by S. to N.W. by N., a path of eighty 

 miles in two seconds, across the centre of the county of Cornwall, terminating 

 at its western coast, near St. Columb Minor. The radiant of the meteor was 

 near a Hydras. As the meteor was probably distinctly seen in Cornwall, the 

 Scilly Isles, and in the south of Ireland, additional descriptions of its appa- 

 rent course from those places, as seen from points considerably west of the 

 place where it appears to have approached the earth, would afford the best 

 materials for verifying the present approximate conjecture of its real path. 

 As seen at Torquay, it was .notably described by an observer to Mr. Greg as 

 lighting up the whole bay and presenting a magnificent appearance. 



1871. D 



