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A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 899 
TABLE (continued), 
Date of Nodal Comet. Node. nr. Remarks. 
Shower. passage. 
Sept. 1-5.) — — — — 
16-25.|\Sept. 16] I. 1790] @ 1:058 | Very uncertain orbit. 
16-25. 18. 1763 | 3 0-974 
Oct. 16-26.\Oct. 16. IV. 1864 | 9 1-045 
16-26. 18. ties |S 0-972 
16-26. 20. 1739 | 8 1-073 
16-26. 21. 1097 | 8 0-944 
16-26. 24. 1366 | 8% 1-048 
Nov. 14.|Nov. 13 I. 1866 | 9 — |P= 83-18 years. 
28. 26.) I. 17664 8 0°853 
28. 28. Biela 3 1004 |P = 66 years. 
28. 29, I. 1743 | 8 0-881 
Dec. 6-13.\Dec. 9.) IV. 1819 8 0°3815 |P=4°'8 years. 
On calculating, in the next place, the point of radiation which a meteoric 
shower would appear to have, if it moved in the same orbit as Biela’s comet, 
Prof. D’Arrest, of Copenhagen, found (Astron. Nachrichten, No. 1633) that 
it agrees very closely with that of the December star-shower, whose maximum 
still oceurs on the 12th of December, but of which the first symptoms can be 
distinguished as early as the 29th of November. The earth now crosses the 
orbit of Biela’s comet on the latter, but in the last century on the former 
date. The great shower of meteors seen by Brandes on the night of the 6th 
of December, 1798, may very possibly have been connected with the periodical 
reappearance of this comet in the following year, which must have passed 
close to the same point of the earth’s orbit in the month of May 1799. 
From the elements of Comet I. 1861, Dr. Galle, of Breslau (Astron. Nach- 
richten, No. 1635) determined the radiant-point which the cometary particles 
would appear to have if, on the date of the earth’s passage near its orbit 
(the 20th of April), they were to encounter the earth as meteors, and found 
for its apparent place long. 267°-2, N. lat. 57°-0, about seven degrees from 
the place (in R. A. 277°5, N. Decl. 34°-6) observed by Mr. Herschel in 
1864, or (in R. A. 27892, N. Decl. 34°'5) by Prof. Karlinski* at Cracow, in 
1867, as the position of the radiant-point of the great star-shower of the 
20th of April, already noted by Herrick, in 1839, as haying its point of radia- 
tion near aLyre. Assuming that the meteors, like the comet, have a 
periodic time of 415 years, Dr. Galle gives the following very similar ele- 
ments of their orbits— 
Meteors of April 20. Comet T. 1861. 
Longitude of perihelion .. 236° —s._ .... . se se 243° 
Longitude of § .......: SO ears aati Rioishe ay atb - 30° 
Enclination! . 0) fl eed) BOan ty adit 80° 
Perihelion distance ...... aE? (5 da a 0:9204 
PPROGTILTICIDY <- s. «el eue saya 8)s s DS. clannets apeis 0:9835 
Semiaxis major ........ ERD} dy Gomrereie-~hchcthc 50°72 
Periodi¢: time = .5.) .is. 2. 415 years. ........ 415 years. 
MTIQee Sates tke ee se directs) BU. direct. 
_ * Dr. Galle, in ‘ Astronomische Nachrichten.’ See Astronomical Register for July 1867, 
_ yol. y. p. 160. 
