A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 321 
Caen in Normandy, forty-five miles from the explosion, a loud report was 
heard after the disappearance of the meteor. The diffused light at Hawk- 
hurst resembled perfectly the light of the half moon, then shining in the same 
direction. At thirty miles the meteor would have rivalled in splendour 
the full moon, and a globe 29 feet in diameter, replete with ordinary gas 
flame, would suffice for an equal luminous effect. 
(11.) 1863, January 27th, 5° 30™ p.m. 
This meteor appeared in strong daylight. Six miles S.E. of Stirling it 
appeared to descend vertically upon Bannockburn; and at Auchterarder, in 
continuation of the same line, it passed overhead, still going north-eastward 
to the horizon. bis 
(12.) 1863, February 7th, 6" 30™ p.m. 
An exceedingly large meteor appeared before the departure of twilight. 
At Loch Fine in Argyllshire, at Lauder in Berwick, and at Elie and Leven 
in Fifeshire, it presented the same appearance of a body moving horizontally 
in 8.W. (from N.W. to S.E.) ;—and the variation of altitude in the west and 
east of Scotland was no more than 25° to 124°. The meteor appears to have 
skirted the westernmost points of the Scottish Isles, from Barra Head to the 
Mull of Galway, at thirty-six miles above the sea, and was doubtless observed 
at Belfast as a striking object. At eighty miles from Greenock, a flash like 
that of lightning was produced in closed apartments. If the meteor rivalled 
the light of full moon at this distance, an equal light would be produced by 
a globe of ordinary gas flame 56 feet in diameter. 
(13.) 1863, March 4th, 6° 36™ p.m. G.M.T. 
Dr. Ed. Heis, Director of the Royal Observatory at Miinster, has published 
a pamphlet containing the particulars of 100 different accounts of this meteor, 
of which the following is a short abstract. The meteor at first resembled a 
bright shooting-star, advancing with leisurely speed and expanding until it 
appeared, to some observers, to attain the apparent size of the full moon, 
which was then above the horizon. The landscape was everywhere illumi- 
nated as if with the strongest artificial light, and to the majority of the 
observers the meteor appeared to fall within a few yards of their position at 
the time. Drs. Baumhauer and Krecke communicated particulars of the 
meteor to Prof. Heis from stations in Holland and Belgium, and M. Quetelet* 
from Brussels, Mr. Greg from Manchester and different parts of England. From 
astronomical friends, and from other sources in Rheinland, Hanover, Holland, 
England, &c., M. Heis received upwards of 100 different accounts. The meteor 
was visible over an area of 100,000 square miles, including in a six-sided figure 
the towns of Manchester, Brighton, Treves, Erbach (Odenwald), Hanover, and 
the northern coast of the kingdom of Hanover. The extent of this area is, from 
Manchester to Erbach, 553 miles ; from Brighton to Bremen, 401 miles. The 
duration of the flight was between 4 and 5 seconds, or, according to five trust- 
worthy accounts, 33, 5, 4, 4, and 52 seconds of time. 
The time of disappearance 7" 6™ p.m., Miinster mean time, 
” ” 6 45 ” Paris i ” 
» os 6 353 ,, Greenwich ,, 
The figure of the meteor was elongated, appearing circular in the direction 
* Bulletins of the Belgian Academy of Sciences, 2nd Series, vol. xv. No. 3. 
1863, Y 
