OBSEllVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 145 



Regarding the second, which, like the last of these meteors, was probably 

 aerolitic. Captain Tupman observes : — " It had two heads, one close behind the 

 other, or it divided itself at mid course, the two parts slowly increasing their 

 distance apart by retardation of the hindermost as they rushed through some 

 50 miles in something under 3 seconds of time. This appears to be a proof 

 of sensible retardation by the density of the atmosphere, although its pres- 

 sure could hardly have exceeded two tenths of an inch of mercury. Had the 

 meteor remained in existence another second it would have fallen into the 

 village of Castle Hedingham, 5 miles S."W. of Sudbury. The heated matter 

 left behind it in the form of a tail was visible along 10 or 15 miles of its 

 path " *. On the resemblance of the orbit of the last of the three meteors 

 to that of the second, the following considerations are also adduced : — " The 

 astronomical radiant-point is within 15°, probably within 10° of that of the 

 meteor of Sept. 7th. The two meteors were also similar in character, and 

 they appear to have moved with nearly equal velocity, something under 20 

 miles a second. This part of the heavens has also been known for many 

 years as a radiant-region for shooting- stars at this period of the year. 



" Dr. Heis found for September 343 4-10 



Messrs. Greg and Hersoliel, September 344 -f 1 2 



Dr. Schmidt, Sept. 3-14 346 + 3 | g^.^ ^qo 



„ Sept 344 — 3/ — 



Tupman, 1871, Sept. 3-15 345 +13 



" The mean of the two found by Schmidt is within 3° of the Sept. 14 fire- 

 ball radiant, and the mean of the other three is as close to the Sept. 7 

 radiant. The old positions, therefore, receive a genuine and unexpected 

 confirmation from these two fireballs, the radiants obtained for which are 

 certainly quite as accurate as the others, and merit being classed as new 

 determinations." 



An interesting notice (as observed above) of the remarkable fireballs of the 

 first two weeks in September appeared in ' Nature ' of Sept. 23rd, 1875 (vol. 

 xii. p. 460), in the course of which some particulars similar to those related 

 above of the appearances of these splendid meteors are described. 



Among the few accurate descriptions which were obtained of the large 

 daylight fireball of the 22nd of December, 1875, the accounts of its appear- 

 ance by observers at Dorking, at Southampton, and near Ware are included 

 in the list of large meteors accompanying this Report. The following obser- 

 vation of it by Mr. T. W. Webb (' Nature,' vol. xii. p. 187) furnishes some 

 further extremely valuable notes of its apparent course. 



* It should be observed that in his investigations of the stonefall of Pultusk (Jan. 30, 

 1868) it was shown by Galle that the area upon which the stones fell was vertically below 

 the point of the fireball's disappearance (twenty miles above the earth), and not, as might 

 have been anticipated, in the line of the meteor's obliquely descending course prolonged 

 onwards from that point to meet the earth's surface. A drawing of the fireball of Sep- 

 tember 7, 1875, from a sketch at the time, was recently communioated to the Committee 

 by Mr. H. Corder, representing his view of the meteor in the end part of its course, which 

 he observed. After a bright disruption into several pieces (seen by other observers), 

 two large nuclei were visible, not following each other, but moving side by side, equally 

 bright and tapering, and one of them about half a length in advance of the other, with 

 a clear interval of about one diameter of each between them. A very small fragment 

 was also visible, which disappeared quickly, while the two heads continued their course, 

 with scarcely any changes of brightness or of relative position, from near o Andromedre to 

 near x Pcrsei. where they died out rather suddenly, leaving no streaks, almost together. 

 The sound came from the S.E., where the meteor burst, not from the east, where it died away ; 

 and persons who saw it before the disruption said that the meteor was then a single body. 

 1876. i 



