OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 



147 



have not been submitted to exact calculation, although some of those recorded 

 in the present list are sufficient to determine with considerable accuracy ita 

 real path. 



From the following descriptions it appears probable that a companion 

 meteor may also have been visible, corresponding nearly in the time of its 

 appearance with the principal large fireball which was generally observed. 

 Mr. John Lane, whose very exact observation of the meteor at Poplar, 

 London, is included in the list, remarks : — " It appears to me there must 

 have been two meteors seen near tlie sarne time, one sea-green and very large 

 [the meteor of 10'' o" p.m., July 2o], the other purple and somewhat smaller. 

 The clear observation and description given by Mr. H. Pratt from Brighton I 

 cannot harmonize with my own, while some others agree very well with it. 

 My results are that it began vertically over a point in W. long. 1°, N. lat. 

 50° 10', and ended over AV. loug. 2° 15', X. lat. 51° 4-3', at an elevation of 

 about 34 miles. Distance travelled in relation to the earth 120 miles, in the 

 orbit of the meteor 170 miles. Actual diameter about 500 yards." 



The following duplicate observation of a shooting-star from the direction 

 of o Lyrae on the date of this large meteor's aj^pearance was obtained (as the 

 Committee was informed by Mr. Denning) from a comparison of his own ob- 

 servations at Bristol with those made by Mr. Clark on that date at Street, 

 near Glastonbury, about 20 miles south-south-westwards from his point of 

 observation. 



Another large fireball, apparently a Persei'd, was very generally seen and 

 recorded in the southern counties of England at about 11'" 23'" p.ji. on the 

 11th of August, 1876, several descriptions of which are included in the 

 accompanying fireball list. Of this bright meteor (which had a long course 

 and possessed great illimiinating power, and which left a persistent streak 

 visible for about a minute, becoming curved or serpentine before it dis- 

 appeared) the real path derivable from the observations hitherto collected has 

 not yet been computed from the few exact observations of it which have been 

 preserved. But of this fireball, and of an equally bright one which appeared 

 at about 9*^ 26"" p.m. on August 15, sufficiently abundant materials exist to 

 enable their real heights and the true radiant-points or meteor-systems to 

 which they must have belonged to be satisfactorily ascertained. As regards 

 their brightness and appearance, some observations not contained in the 

 above list are here subjoined, for which the Committee is indebted to the 

 active correspondence and communicatioris of Mr. Denning respecting the 

 several bright meteors which have been visible in quick succession dui-ing 

 the past month of August. 



Keynshara, near Bristol (Mr. H. Marks).— On the 11th of August (1876) 

 I was walking along a valley from about 10'' 45"' to 11'' 15"' p.m. [the time is 

 a rough approximation], when all at once — I did not notice the star there 

 before — an exceedingly bright star shot from about N.E. close to the horizon 

 to S.W., leaving a tail I should say about halfway across the heaven, 

 gradually disappearing, but not entirely gone, I should thinlc, for 5 minutes. 

 The star appeared about the size of a cocoanut, and caused a grand iUumi- 



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