68 



REPOKT — 1873. 



itself, with much apjiareiit commotion in the direction of the meteor's flight. 

 In the first quarter of its length no light appeared in it; but in the second 



Alt. 30 



ji paces 



■^— V 



1 15 paces 



V Ground tine of mid\i bf houses- ^ ^ is ptTCe:x 



■f 'opt pa th 



High ran A *- 



NEfalSW 



Commony or jrorreJieCd 



Observer's JPlace 

 c 



Apparent course and appearance of a largo Meteor seen at Copenhagen 1851, July 30, 



evening, by P. J. Winstnip. 



and third it seemed to be mixed ^Yilh flame of rapidlj' increasing brightness ; 

 and in the last third part of this portion of the meteor's flight, its nucleus 

 ■was plainly yisible, of intense ■whiteness and brilliancy at the centre, and 

 surrounded ■with duller red light to-«-ards the border, ■which -was of the same 

 •v\adth as the smoke-^wreath. It became extinguished at h, and from this 

 point to c three more small cloud triangles, like those first formed, ■VN'ere 

 added in quick succession to its length. The earlier portions of the smoke- 

 •wreath had by this time entirely disappeared, the meteor taking not more 

 than three or four seconds to produce the cloud column, which was also the 

 time taken by this part of the smoke-wreath and by each of the cloud 

 triangles to disappear ; so that the whole diu'ation of visibility of the pheno- 

 menon was about fifteen seconds. Immediately after its disappearance, the 

 blue sky at that place remained as clear and as bright as it had been before 

 the meteor's passage. The cloud-substance of the triangles first formed was 

 bluish white, like the smoke of gunpowder, while that in the upper part of 

 the smoke-column became quite dark as it disappeared. By marking the 

 first and last points of the meteor's course (a, c) with reference to the 

 houses of a neighbouring street, and pacing their distance from his point of 

 view, the apparent path of the meteor, as it was thus observed by JSIr. 

 "Winstrup, appears to have been ascertained as follows : — • 



Point of commencement, a, altitude 7°, 52° east from south. 

 Point of disappearance, c, altitude 30°, 19° east from south. 

 Apparent length of the meteor's course, a c, about 42°. 

 Inclination of its apparent course to the horizon, about 38°. 



