154- report — 1877. 



reiaaiuing portion of the meteor's flight to its termination, if* it is assumed 

 that the direction of its fall, so near the moon (which was then due S.W. at 

 Walsall, at an apparent altitude of between 30° and 35°), requires a small 

 westerly correction to about W.S.W., instead of descending in the S.W. by 

 W. as it was described. With this apparent course, or with a direction 

 about half a point more westerly at Walsall (which is adopted to diminish 

 the otherwise extravagant length of path and real height of the track found 

 by combination with the Irish observations), the meteor's real path was fiom 

 75 miles over the promontory of St. Ann's Head, Milford Haven, to a point 

 45 miles over the sea at the entrance of St. George's Channel, 130 miles due 

 south of Cape Clear in Ireland, describing thus from the coast of Wales a 

 course to the extreme west longitude of Ireland at about the distance from 

 the Irish coast, along its southern shores, of the Nymph Bank near the middle 

 of the channel. The length of path is about 230 miles, performed with a 

 speed of 35 miles per second (taking 6^ seconds as the mean observed dura- 

 tion at Bray and Wolverhampton), from a radiant-point between 130°, +25° 

 and 140°, +30°, which was then about 10° above the E.N.E. horizon at the 

 places over which the meteor passed. This position, between y Cancri and 

 k Leonis, slightly noticed by Mr. Denning (at c Cancri, see the first list of 

 comet- accordances, p. 167) in the beginning of last January, is new in that 

 month, although catalogues contain positions very closely adjacent to it in 

 the months of February and December. Tbe theoretical speed of a meteor 

 from this radiant-point, having a parabolic orbit, would be 23 miles per 

 second which would only be satisfied by the observations if the length and 

 real distance of the meteor's course from the observers' stations could be di- 

 minished by about one third, or if the observed time of duration of its flight 

 could be increased one half, from 6| to 10 seconds ; either of which assump- 

 tions it would not be difficult to reconcile with the scanty data afforded for 

 such determinations by the recorded particulars of this very brilliant and 

 lengthy fireball, seen over a large area of England and Ireland in the twilight 



sky. 



1877, January 23, about 4 h r.ai. (local time), Kentucky and Indiana, 



tj g. The final explosion of this meteor took place over Harrison County, 



and an aerolite reached the earth (see the last Appendix of this Report, p. 193) 

 nine miles north of Cynthiana, in Kentucky, U. S. The fireball was observed 

 simultaneously near Bloomington and near Greensburgh, 56 miles east from 

 Blooinington, in Indiana, but only the height at first appearance, which was 

 at least 70 miles, can be roughly assigned from the observed positions. Near 

 Bloomington its visible track was very nearly perpendicular to the earth's 

 surface descending from an altitude of 35° in the south-east to the horizon 

 of a hill-top, south-east of the observers, behind which it disappeared. In 

 Kenton County, Ky., a rumbling sound was heard as if coming from a point 

 hi»h in the heavens about S.S.E., resembling the discharge of numbers of 

 heavy ordnance blended together, which jarred the earth perceptibly and 

 made windows rattle. 



1877, February 8, 2 h 30 m a.m. (local time), Indiana, TJ. S. — A meteor, 

 about half the apparent magnitude of the full moon, seen near Ellettsville, 

 in Monroe County (chief town, Bloomington), Indiana, U. S., passed a little 

 south of the zenith from south-east to a point 10° above the horizon, 30° or 

 35° south of west. The body of the meteor emitted numerous sparks in the 

 latter part of its track, and left a luminous streak on its course for seveial 

 seconds. No sound of an explosion was heard, but its light was so intense 

 that the observer's horse took fright at the sudden vividness of the flash. 



