A CATALOGUE Ol' OBSfeRVAf ION^S OF LU-MlN'OtJS METEORS. 



At Rome, on the night of the 13-14th of November, 1868, the meteors 

 began to appear about midnight, ■with diffuse light in the N.N.E. and N.E., 

 several meteors being seen near the Lion's " 8ickle " at 12h. 9m. From 12h. 

 yOm. until Ih. 20m. an interval of cessation occurred, in which very few- 

 meteors appeared ; but at Ih. 10m. a splendid fireball made its appearance in 

 the Lynx (see Catalogue). From Ih. 30m. to 2h. 30m. a shower of meteors 

 appealed in all parts of the sky, radiating from a point at the centre of the 

 stars y, e, ^, Z, t] Leonis. In theN.E. anclN.N.E. directions only, ninety me- 

 teors were counted in two hours. The maximum, which was also noted at the 

 same time by Prof. PinelK at Clvita Vecchia, took place at 4h. 50m. a.m., 

 on the 14th. The total number of meteors visible between midnight and 

 6h. A.M., in aU parts of the sky, was probably not less than 3000. (Annuaire 

 de rObservatoire Royal de Bruxelles for 1808-69, p. 166 ; letter of Madame 

 Scarpellini to M. Quetelet.) 



The numbers of shooting-stars seen by three observers at the Observatory 

 of the Capitol at Rome, on the night of the 13-14th of November, 1868, is 

 thus stated by Father Secchi in a letter to Abbe Moigno, printed in * Lea 

 Mondes ' for November 26th, 1868 :— 



In the successive quarters of an hour ending as below, Rome time, 

 November 14th a.m., there were seen, — 



Total, in three hours, 2204 meteors. 



According to another letter in the ' Times,' the meteoric shower was also 

 seen with great brilliancy at Naples. A brief extract from a letter received 

 by Sir John Herschel states that at Florence the meteoric shower was also 

 very splendid. 



At Moncalieri, and at Bra, in Piedmont, the sky was cloudless for a few 

 hours after midnight, and the beginning of the star-shower was obsei-ved. 

 The hourly numbers of meteors seen at Moncalieri on the nights preceding 

 the 13th of November were : — 



On the night of the 



Horary number 

 meteors. 



of 



9th. 10th, nth. 12th. 



'11 *8 23 24 I *Sky very 



At Bra 21 ( hazy. 



At Alessandria 45 



As soon as the constellation Leo rose above the horizon at Moncalieri and 

 at Bra, the meteoric shower appeared in groups of three, four, or even five 

 meteors at once. The following Table shows the number of meteors counted 

 at each place in the successive hours before midnight, and half-hours after 

 midnight on the morning of the 14th of November. The sky became almost 

 overcast at Bra at one o'clock, and completely so at Moncalieri at ten minutes 

 after two o'clock a.m. 



