A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 



3C3 



" Meteoric stream, and its duration. 



0" P.M. to 9^ O"" P.M. .. 

 A.M. to 9 A.M. .. 



A.M. to 12 (noon) 



P.M. to 11 30 P.M. .. 



P.M. to 8 A.M. (Nov. 14) 



Time of maximum. 

 ..1868, Nov. 12, Qh q-" p.m, 

 .. „ „ 13, 8 A.M. 

 .. „ „ 13, 10 30 

 .. „ ., 13, 9 30 



14, 3 



A.M. 

 P.M. 

 A.M."[»] 



The accompanying diagram, subjoined to the last Table by Mr. Marsh, 

 most clearly illustrates its meaning, and the relation which the several 

 November meteor-streams recently observed bear to each other when reduced 

 to a common epoch : — 



6h. 1S63, Mid- 61j. 



P.M. Hov. night. l-3tli. A.M. 



12h. 

 Noon. 



6h. 



P.M. 



Mid- 6h. 



night. 14th. a.m. 



Noon. 



" N'ovcmber Meteors of 1S6S, observed at the U. S. Naval Observatory 

 Washington " (Report of Professor J. R. Eastman, with a chart of the 

 meteor-tracks). — For the pirrpose of determining with accuracy the positio.". 

 of the radiant-point, and to afford means for calculating the real altitudes 

 and velocities of the November meteors, gnomonic charts of the heavens, 

 having the constellation Leo in the centre of the map, were last year distri- 

 buted by the Meteor-committee of the Newhaven Academy. The tracks of 

 90 meteors were recorded on such a chart, which accompanies the Washington 

 Report ; and by its means the position of the radiant-point was fixed at a 

 well-defined pomt inR. A. 148° 30', N. Deck 22° 30'. The points of beginning 

 and end of these apparent tracks are given, in a table, by their right ascen- 

 sions and declinations. The maximum frequency occurred at about 5'* 0™, 

 when they fell at the rate of about 2500 per houi', and by G^ a.m. 5078 

 meteors had been counted. The display continued until after daybreak, and 

 was the grandest ever witnessed at the Washington Observatory. The majo- 

 rity of the meteors, although obscured by the full moonlight, surpassed in 

 brightness those of the previous year. The trains of two large fireballs, after 

 passing through colours of red, green, and blue, at last formed light fleecy 

 clouds, and remained visible, respectively, for ten, and thirty minutes. 



'•■ Meteors of November 14th, 18G8," by H. A. Newton (American 

 Journal of Science and Arts, vol. xlvii. p. 399, with two plates). — Especial 

 provisions were made by the Newhaven Luminous-Meteor Committee, in 

 November last, to obtain cai'efuUy recorded observations of the apparent paths 

 of meteors, at the return of the expected star-shower. Among the shoot- 

 ing-stars whose positions were thus mapped, or sufficiently described, 

 accounts are given in the memoir of ten large meteors ; and of this number, 

 five were observed at distant places, so that the real altitudes of the meteors, 

 or of their luminous streaks, could be determined. The largest fireball was 

 observed at l*" 12"" a.m., N. Y. T., the streak of which remained visible for 

 forty minutes over the south-eastern part of Pennsylvania, between Newhaven 

 and Washington, at both of which places its ai)parent place was noted. Par- 



[* Time of the shower as actually seen in 1868.] 



