OBSERVATONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 353 



of the 4tli and Gth of Is^vembcr, 1869 (these Reports for 1870, p. 97), coin- 

 ciding exactly with Heis's radiant R^, and very nearly with No. Ill of Mr. 

 Greg's general list (R G) at G4°, + 18°. Several meteors from a radiant-point 

 nearer to the latter position, at G4°, + 20°, were observed by Mr. Denning at 

 Bristol, on the nights of the Gth, 9th, and 10th of November last. On the first 

 of these nights a meteor also proceeded from the direction of a radiant-point 

 in Auriga, at about 85°, 4-27° ; and on the last date Mr. C. E. Baker, at Bristol, 

 noted five meteors diverging from a common radiant-point near the Hyades, in 

 Taurus. The whole of these affiliated radiant-points appear to be connected 

 AWth the well-known shower from near a Tauri, often noticed by observers 

 during long watches for the Leonids or meteors of the 14th of November, 

 having its time of maximum from October 30th to November Gth, or in the 

 first few days of November. 



The next considerable meteor of which duplicate observations were ob- 

 tained, appeared at about ten o'clock on the evening of the 3rd of February, 

 1873. Owing to the cloudy and hazy state of the sky, which nearly con- 

 cealed the moon at many places, the descriptions of its apparent path were 

 nowhere sufficiently determinate to indicate its real course with great pre- 

 cision ; but they combine to show that the meteor moved at a lower elevation 

 than common amongst ordinary shooting-stars, over the northern part of Staf- 

 fordshire and Cheshire, passing at a height of less than forty miles above 

 Crewe, and disappearing at a height of less than thirty mUes over a point 

 between Liverpool and Chester : at some point of this course a violent explo- 

 sion was produced, the sound of which was heard like the loud boom of a 

 distant gun or a low roll of thunder about three or four minutes after the 

 meteor's disappearance. The accounts of its apparent path, and also of the 

 time and character of the occurrence of the report, are very discordant; but 

 there appears no doubt that the meteor was a detonating fireball of the largest 

 class, illuminating the whole country over which it passed with one or two 

 prolonged flashes of light at least as powerful as that of the full moon, and the 

 report diff'ering altogether from that of any signal gun, of which it is said that 

 one took place at about the time of its appearance. Its course may also have 

 been rather more nearly from east to west, or from over Chesterfield to above 

 C'hester, than that above described, the best descriptions at Manchester and 

 Sheffield stating that it vanished at its extinction near and directly above the 

 moon, which was then shining in the west. The light of the m.eteor was 

 bluish, with a train of many brilliant sparks in its track ; and it burst into 

 many fragments, but without leaving any visible streak of light in its course. 

 Mr. Greg, Mr. Wood, and Mr. Sorby have collected numerous descriptions of 

 this meteor's appearance at Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield ; but the 

 definite results to which they all point, scarcely vary sufficiently from the 

 above general conclusions to make their separate enumeration necessary to 

 complete this notice. It is remarkable, as observed by Mr. Wood, that on 

 the same date and at the same local time of the evening, a very brilliant fire- 

 ball was visible in Australia, of which a description appeared in the ' English 

 Mechanic ' of May 2ud, 1873, p. 171. 



187.3. 2 A 



