A CATALOGtJE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 125 



a remarkably definite manner during the month of August, and more especi- 

 ally in September. 



(5.) 1865, November 13th, S^ 42™ p.m., G. M. T. 



The following account of the meteor is communicated by Mr. T. Crumplen. 

 " "When fii-st seen, it had the appearance of a star of the 3rd magnitude, 

 rapidly increasing in splendour until its maximnm light was at least equal to 

 three times that of the planet Venus. Numerous sparks were thrown off as 

 it passed along, the nucleus exploding just before it disappeared. Its flight 

 was certainly retarded during its passage ; it was visible over a large area, 

 obsei-vations having reached me from places as widely separated as Boulogne 

 and Market-Drayton. 



'•■ From these I conclude that the meteor was first seen about eighty miles 

 in the zenith of a place midway between Aylesbury and Stoney Stratford, 

 moving in a W.S.W. direction, passing south of Cirencester and just north of 

 Cleveland, ending about the same height over Hartley Quay — a path of some 

 1G5 miles iu 2^ seconds. The velocity is certainly very great — sixty-six miles 

 per second ; but I am convinced that it was not less. This will serve for a 

 sufficient indication of the height of these meteors, which we must consider 

 to be part of the great November zone." 



The height and velocity are both above the average. It should be borne 

 in mind that small errors of observation may sometimes lead to exaggerated 

 estimates, both of the height and velocity of a meteor's flight. 



(6.) 1865, November 18th, 4" 30™ p.m. 

 The appearance of the meteor seen in twilight by Mr. F. C. Penrose at 

 Wimbledon, is also announced from Cambridge (see Catalogue) among the hst 

 of meteor-observations for November, communicated by Mr. T. Crumplen. 

 Particiilars of the apparent path of this meteor at other places, if they can 

 still be obtained, would lead to determining its real height and velocity, and 

 of what meteoric shower the fii'ebaU formed a part. 



(7.) 1865, November 21st, 6i^ 5™ p.m., G. M. T. 

 The eastern coast of England is for the third time visited by a detonating 

 meteor of large size, within a day before or after the date of the 20th No- 

 vember (i-. Eeport, 1865, p. 121). For the means of ascertaining its direct 

 distance from the earth, the path that it pursued, its velocity, &e., the Com- 

 mittee are mainly indebted to the accounts collected from distant places by 

 Mr. Warren De la Hue, by whom the meteor was observed near Cranford. 

 It was also seen, and the position of its point of disappearance was noted by 

 Mr. F. C. Penrose, F.E.A.S., at Wimbledon. A loud report like that of a 

 cannon followed its disai^pearance, at an interval of 2 minutes and 20 seconds. 

 The meteor was observed by the Assistant at the Observatory of Cambridge, 

 Mr. H. C. Todd, and at Oxford and at Liverpool, as well as at other places more 

 near to the seat of the explosion, which was over the Thames valley. The 

 meteor traversed the entire length of the valley of the Thames, a distance of 

 about seventy-five miles, from the Nore (height about forty-one miles) to 

 Henley-on-Thames (height twenty-seven miles) in 6^ seconds, at a velocity, 

 therefore, of about eleven and a half miles per second. Sound, with its or- 

 dinary velocity in common air, would take 2 minutes 50 seconds to traverse 

 the distance from the latter point to the station where Mr. Penrose observed 

 the meteor at Wimbledon. The direction of the meteor was from a point in 

 the neighboxu-hood of the constellation Taurus, betv^'ecn Taiu'us and the head 

 of Cetus. 



