142 report — 1877. 



the common evidence of these three observations, shown with little uncer- 

 tainty to have been very near the E.N.E. horizon. The meteor was thus found 

 to have been a ' Taurid ' from the earliest of the three Taurid centres (at 58°, 

 + 18°, a noted radiant-centre in November) ; and the characteristic appear- 

 ance of the meteor was also that which the long bright meteors often seen 

 coursing the sky from east to west in evenings early in the month present 

 by the parallelism of their stream to the horizon, and by the brightness of 

 many of its members, which makes this ordinary meteor system a conspicuous 

 shower of shooting-stars in the early portion of November. 



1877, January 7, about 10 h 30 m p.m.- — Besides tho fine shooting-star 

 doubly observed at this time in London and at Birmingham, Mr. Denning 

 has described the occurrence of other meteors seen by himself*, which are 

 traceable to the same radiant-point in the first few weeks of January. On 

 the radiant-point near y Eridani, to which he shows that the meteor of 

 January 7th can be assigned, and on some other meteors seen on the same 

 night as this one, Mr. Denning offers the following observations : — " I can 

 confirm the position of this radiant-point from other meteors seen in January, 

 including one as bright as Venus on the 4th, 8 h 51 m p.m., which exhibited 

 the same slow halting motion as that noted in regard to the fine one seen on 

 the 7th. I have received other accounts of the latter, but they are mostly 

 vague. At Bermondsey it was seen at 10 b 30 m , and described as large and 

 remarkably brilliant, closely resembling in size and colour the meteor which 

 appeared on September 24, 1876. It was of a bluish colour, left a long tail 

 of light, or streak, in its wake, and its course in the heavens was from 8.W. 

 to N.E. At 10 h 37 m , on the same evening, a very large and brilliant meteor 

 was seen at Lower Clapton, and this no doubt refers to the same object. 



" Mr. Barrington (' Nature,' vol. xv. p. 275) notes another bright meteor 

 at G h p.m. on January 19 (Dublin time, or C h 25 m r.M. Greenwich time, see the 

 account at Bray, below, p. 153) ; but its apparent path shows it to have been 

 different from one seen by a correspondent at 6 h 27™, January 19, who writes 

 that he witnessed a meteor of unusual brilliancy. It moved almost per- 

 pendicularly in a southerly direction very slowly, the time occupied in its 

 passage being about 7 or 8 seconds." 



1877, March 17, 9 h 57 m p.m. — Several observations of this very luminous 

 fireball were recorded (some of which are included in the accompanying list) 

 and were collected and compared together, with the results given in the pre- 

 sent Table, by Captain Tupman. The meteor was exceedingly luminous at 

 places near its line of flight over the Bristol Channel and in Ireland, as its 

 body of brightly-coloured light sailed slowly through the sky. "From 

 Waierford the meteor was seen to be double, one part closely following the 

 other in the same track f, while the light was so brilliant that the coast of 

 Kilmore, 9 miles distant, became distinctly visible. All along the track fiery 

 ashes were observed to fall nearly vertically downwards. At Basingstoke, 

 90 miles distant, green and red masses of fire seemed to be falling into ad- 



* 'Nature,' vol. xv. p. 346 (February 15, 1877). See also the accompanying Large 

 Meteor-list, January 7th, 1877, Putney Hill, London. 



t A sketch of the double-headed meteor of Seistember 7, 1875, by Mr. H. Corder, 

 at Writtle, may here be noticed (see these Reports, vol. for 

 1876, p. 145, footnote), as the division into two heads which 

 it, portrays is much rarer than the formation of a second 

 head (perhaps of sparks), like that described in the text, fol- 

 lowing the principal body of the meteor. Tho two heads, 



certainly not in line, after travelling in company for about 20°, Mr. Corder states, dis- 

 appeared almost together. 



