368 



REPORT 1873. 



Date. 



1873. 



AUR.ll 



II 



Hour, 

 approx. 

 G. M. T. 



Place of 

 Obseivation. 



h m s I 



9 11 i Bristol, 



Apparent 



Magnitude, 



as per Stars &c. 



Colour. 



1st map;. 



9 12 RadclifiFe Obser- 

 vatory, Oxford. 



1st ma?: 'Yellow 



Duration. 



Apparent Path. 



0-8 second ... 



2'5 seconds , 



From ll°+40° 

 to 21 +29 



From Z Cassiopei.x 

 to 46 [w] An- 

 dromedse. 



II. Large Meteors and Aerolites. 



Ill the ' Monthly Notices of the Astronomical Society ' of the past year 

 (vol. xxxiii. ), several interesting instances of very large meteors are recorded. 

 The earliest having occurred nearly on the same date of the year as tlie well- 

 known fall of the meteorite of Orgenil (on the 14th of May, 1867), it may 

 very possibly have been, as its description renders probable, an aerolitic fire- 

 ball. It is thus described by Commander BL. P. Knevitt, as observed on 

 board of H. M. S. ' Fawn,' on the passage from Manzanilla to Panama. 

 " On the IGth of May, 1872, at 2'> 45" a.m. (the weather having been squally 

 since midnight), a phenomenon was seen in the heavens at an altitude of about 

 50°, and bearing East of compass ; the ship at the time being in lat. 14° 55' N. 

 and long. 99° 58' W. I did not see it myself, but the following is the de- 

 scription given of it by Lieut. Cecil G. Home, who was the officer of the watch. 

 Attention was first drawn by a very bright flash, resembling a small flash of 

 vivid lightning, but being much more solid and lasting four to five seconds ; 

 the passage of the luminous body w^as towards the horizon for a short distance 

 (say 3° or 4°) in a zigzag course ; it then appeared to burst and throw ofl^ a 

 tail such as a comet has, the tail forming a ring and spreading itself round 

 the body till the whole had very much the appearance of a large Catherine- 

 wheel ; it then gradually faded out of sight, having been visible from first 

 to last about ten or fifteen minutes." 



A large meteor observed at the Mauritius at about 7 o'clock r.]\i. on the 7t]i 

 of JSTovember, 1872, by Mr. W. Wright, is described at p. 176 of the same 

 volume, being communicated to the Astronomical Society by Mr. Meldrura. 

 The appearance of the meteor was exactly like that of the moon in her first 

 quarter, the lower quarter only of the disk being illuminated and the upper 

 three quarters being of a dull dusky stone-brown colour. The writer's atten- 

 tion was drawn to it by a sudden flash above the brightness of moonlight ; 

 and it appeared to him to fall from the direction of Aquarius. In communi- 

 cating this observation to ' K'ature ' of January 23rd, 1873, Mr. Mcldrum re- 

 marks that the moon was actually at the end of her first quarter, in the posi- 

 tion indicated by ^Mr.AVright as the direction in which he observed the meteor; 



