OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 137 



north-west direction. The dotted lines 1, 2, 3 are the directions, 

 respectively, of St. Bride's Bay (Milford Haven), Axklow, and a point 

 near Mullingar in Ireland. It thus appears that a much longer night 

 than that above supposed must presumably have been performed; but it 

 must yet be remembered that intervals of azimuth, like those of altitude, are 

 commonly far overrated near the horizon ; and the real course of the meteor 

 was very probably not more prolonged (even if it was so much, at last) at Mr. 

 Binney's point of observation*, from due south to about west, or a little south 

 of west. 



Mr. Binney mentions the occurrence on the night before the 15th of August 

 of another meteor equally brilliaut with this large fireball, which made its 

 appearance in the west at Belfast. The hour of its occurrence was the same, 

 and it answered, a correspondent wrote to him, in every particular to the de- 

 scription of the meteor seen at Douglas ; and no doubt of the date, he added, was 

 possible, which was the 14th of August. Mr. H. Darbishire, who communi- 

 cated this intelligence, states that he was on the watch for meteors on the 

 night of August 15, between 9 h and 10 h p.m., and saw nothing at Belfast re- 

 sembling the large meteor elsewhere recorded at about 9" 30 m on that night. 

 On the other hand, a notice of such a meteor, seen at Cookstown, 30 miles 

 west of Belfast, appeared in a later Part of the ' Proceedings of the Literary 

 and Philosophical Society of Manchester ' (vol. xvi. p. 60, December 12, 1876), 

 showing that either this fireball, or one perfectly resembling it, was very 

 brilliant in that part of Ireland at the hour when other observers noted its 

 appearance. 



The following account of the meteor was given by Mr. N". Staples, 

 whose letter to him of December 4th, 1876, on the subject of the meteor, 

 Mr. Binney then communicated to the Society : — " As I noticed in the 

 Paper that you observed a meteor on the night of August 15th, when in 

 the Isle of Man, I beg to inform you that a meteor was observed in Cooks- 

 town, about long. W. 6° 45', on the night of Tuesday, August 15th, about 

 9 h 45 m , local time, passing over from S.E. to N.W. It was described to me 

 as lighting up the whole street ; colour reddish green [!]." Mr. Binney 

 adds that the meteor was also seen at Rochdale in Lancashire, but of its ap- 

 parent course there he has not been able to obtain particulars. Remarkable 

 as was the brilliancy of the meteor at this far northern point in Ireland, it 

 is not necessary to assume a further continuation of its course than to such 

 a low height as 15 miles over a point; near Mullingar (about 80 miles S.S.W. 

 from Cookstown) to satisfy the uncertain information which can alone he 

 gathered without recourse to measurements from such a general description 

 of the meteor's apparition. The earth-point of its course, as derived from the 

 exact observations of its course in England, was 15 miles west from Carrick, 

 90 miles S.W. by W. from Cookstown, and instead of passing " over " that 

 town towards N.W., if the same meteor (as there seems no reason to doubt) 

 was seen there, it must have moved at no great altitude above the south, on a 

 slightly descending course nearly towards the west point of the horizon. 

 The meteor did not burst or detonate, and left no persistent light-streak on 

 its course ; but the strong bluish light of its nucleus cast moving shadows 



* A point a. is added in the map where Christian Bond branches off from Buck's Boad. 

 The direction of Buck's Boad and of Conister from tin's point (referred to in a description 

 of the meteor of April 16, 1877, in the accompanying fireball-list) are shown by dotted 

 arrow-lines in the map. The point j3 is the tower of St. Thomas's church, which is also 

 referred to in the same description. 



