A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS Or LUMINOUS METEORS. 373 



(3) 1866, ISiOvember 14tli, 1'^ 8'" a.m. (Cardiff). 



The apparent position of the meteor at the beginning and end of its %'isible 

 path, as referred to the stars by Messrs. A. and J. Thomson at Cardiff, and 

 Mr. H. S. Heinecken at Sidmouth, are in the most perfect geometrical accord- 

 ance with the respective geographical positions of the two stations fi-om one 

 another. As the stations are respectively north and south from one another, 

 and the meteor passed between them from east to west, the real altitude of 

 the meteor, and the extent of the luminous streak which it left floating ujion 

 its path for at least ten minutes before it disappeared, can be determined with 

 exactness. The direct distance of Sidmouth from Cardiff is just fifty British 

 statute miles. The parallax of the meteor at its fii-st appearance was 20°, 

 and corresponds to a height of 100 miles above Petersficld, in Hampshire 

 (lat. 51° N., long. 0° 55' W. from Greenwich). The meteor disappeared be- 

 tween the two stations, and its parallax was then 50°. Its real altitude at 

 the instant of its disappearance was fifty-three miles above Tiverton, in Devon- 

 shire (lat. 50° 55' N., long. 3° 39' ^\. from Greenwich), which point it reached 

 after an aerial flight of 120 miles directed exactly from the radiant-point 

 (near x Leonis) of the IS^ovember meteoric shower, in the centre of Leo's 

 « Sickle." 



At the final distance of the meteor fi-om Cardift', sixteen or eighteen miles 

 would subtend 15°, which was the length (see Catalogue) of that portion of 

 the luminous streak which collected itself into a cloud after the nucleus had 

 disappeared. A " few minutes of arc " (sec Catalogue) would correspond to 

 as many hundred feet at the same distance ; this was accordingly the width 

 of the straight portion of the luminous streak, while the oval light-cloud, 

 which remained visible ten minutes, if it subtended the apparent width of 

 only two diameters of the moon, must have measured at least one mile in 

 thickness. 



(4) 1866, November 14th, 2'^ 12™ 30^ a.m. (Hawkhurst). 

 The apparent position of the meteor, seen at this time to leave a very per- 

 sistent streak at Hawkhurst, is not compatible with the apparent place of a 

 very similar meteor observed at very nearly the same moment by Mr. Lowe 

 at Nottingham, so as to make it possible to compute their distance as if the 

 meteors were identical. But it is probable that two meteors, nearly simulta- 

 neous in time, were seen at the two stations in nearly the same quarter of 

 the heavens. 



(5) 1866, November 14th, 2'> 14™ a.m. (Glasgow). 



An observation of the meteor seen at Glasgow was also recorded by Mr. 

 G. Forbes at St. Andrews. It moved, however, with reference to the two 

 stations, so nearly in a plane containing the base-line drawn between them, 

 that although a considerable parallax of the kind attributable to their very 

 wide displacement is perfectly apparent, additional observations at other places 

 are required to define its real altitude. 



(6) 1866, November 14th, 2'' 40" 58^ (Aberdeen). 



A brilliant fireball of the November shower was seen over the whole of. 

 Scotland and as far south as Nottingham, in England. Observations of its 

 apparent place were recorded at Sunderland in England, and at Glasgow, 

 Edinburgh, and Aberdeen in Scotland (sec next page). A comparison^ of 

 these accounts assigns to the light-cloud left by the meteor near the termination 

 of its course an altitude of between sixty-one and sixty-seven miles above the 



