A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OT LUMiXOUS METEORS. STf) 



sades, by 3Ir. Gilraau, would implj- a first altitude of eiglity-fivo or niucty 

 miles. This estimate, however, is not to be taken strictly." 



2. Meteor and meteor-streak observed at Fern Lodge Observatory, Pali- 

 sades, and at Stamford, Conn., at 2h. 4Sm. A.ir. N^ew York time. Although 

 the base-lino and the eorrcsponding parallax are small, the two observed paths 

 agree well together, and give an elevation of fifty-two miles for the end of 

 the track, and sixty-five tor the beginning, with a length of path of twenty- 

 seven miles. A portion of the luminous streak, which in the field of view of 

 a telescope magnifying forty times appeared double, and terminated by au 

 oval cloud, was, allowing for the inclination and diameter of the field of view, 

 0"89 mile in length. 



3. ileteor and meteor- streak observed at Portland and at Boston, U.S.A., at 

 3h. 51m. BOs. a.m. Portland time. A parallax of 53° upon the base-line of 

 121 miles gives tor the height of the meteor, at a point near the beginning 

 of its path, seventy-seven miles. The length of the luminous cloud, which 

 gradually curled up and floated northwarcl as it faded, remaining visible at 

 Boston for three minutes, must have been ten miles. 



4. Meteor observed at the same stations at 5h. 6m. a.m. Portland time. The 

 altitude of this meteor at disappearance was about forty-eight miles. Its 

 first appearance, judging from observation, was at a height of nearly 150 

 miles ; but the track was so near to the radiant, that a difference of three 

 or four degrees in the apparent length would reduce the first altitude below 

 100 miles. 



5. Meteor and meteor-streak observed at Newhaven and at New York by 

 Professors H. A. ISTewton and A. C. Twining, at 5h. 6m. 45s. A.M.Newhaven 

 time (see Catalogue). The altitude of the beginning and end of the visible 

 path of the meteor is, from these observations, eighty-five and sixty miles 

 respectively. The motions of the train seem to indicate an upper current 

 from the north above that from the south, which was shown by the motions 

 of the train of the meteor of Ih. 12m. a.m. New York time. 



6. Meteor and meteor-streak observed at Boston and Fairhaven, &c., U.S., 

 at 5h. 30m. 30s. Boston time. The meteor left a streak, which at Boston 

 remained visible for seven minutes, drifting northwards ; and at Fairhaven 

 it also remained visible as a pale cloud for five minutes, widening and becoming 

 nearly circular and larger than the full moon. The observed paths 

 agree very well with the necessary conditions, and indicate an altitude of 

 about fifty-niue miles for the lower part of the cloud. The northward mo- 

 tion of the cloud showed that it did not penetrate through the upper into the 

 lower current, which swept away southward the lower part of the train of 

 the meteor at Ih. 12m. a.m. New York time. 



186S, December 10th, lOh. 57m. p.m., London, and Ackworth, Yorkshire 

 (see Catalogue). The 2-esemblauce between these two meteors in time and 

 other particulars of their appearance, although singularly close, is only acci- 

 dental, as the difference of the positions of their apparent paths at the two 

 places does not agree vrith that wMch would be produced by the efi"ect of 

 parallax. 



1869, ^laj 31st, about llh. r.M., Cambridge and Paris, &c. (see Cata- 

 logue). Among the many descriptions of this large detonating fireball, the 

 apparent path is indicated at very few places with precision. An approxi- 

 mate detevmiiiation of its real path by means of the reference to certain 

 stars contained in the careful observations by Mr. Atchison at Cambridge, 

 and by M. llobinet at Paris, leads to the result that the meteor first appeared 

 at a height of about seventy miles above Eastbourne in Sussex, and disap- 



