OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 1GI 



187G, October 18th-21st. — The only observation which appears to indicate 

 a return of the Orionids of October, on the annual dates of the 18th-21st, 

 was recordod by Professor Kirkwood, in the following paragraph in the ' New 

 York Tribune ' of October 27th, 1876 :— 



" Shooting-stars in unusual abundance, as I am informed by trustworthy 

 witnesses, were observed at this place last evening (October 18th) from 6 h 

 45 m to 9 b . The meteors appeared to radiate from Auriga, or rather from a 

 point between Taurus and Auriga. No count was kept, but the numbers 

 were such as to attract the attention of several persons in the street. Most 

 of the meteors were small, though two were observed of extreme brilliancy." 

 Professor Kirkwood adds that in consequence of a meteor-shower of this epoch 

 having been recorded * in 1436, 1439, 1743, and 1798, returns of which were 

 observed in 1838 and 1841, a strict watch should be kept on the annual date 

 of the present meteor display for any future apparitions of the shower that 

 may hereafter be observed. 



A similar announcement appeared in the ' Newbtirvport Herald,' Massa- 

 chusetts^ U. S. ; « New York Observer,' November 9th, 1876 (see the list of 

 fireballs in this Report, p. 110, for the description of a large meteor which it 

 records). — "A meteor of remarkable size and brilliancy passed from the zenith 

 to the south-west, at 2 o'clock on the morning of the 19th [of October, 1876], 

 leaving a train which remained visible over a quarter of an hour. While the 

 train was being observed, a large number of smaller meteors passed, as often 

 as one a minute, over the same field [from Taurus towards the south-west], 

 one or two of them leaving a slight train." The time of occurrence of this 

 meteor-shower would be five or six hours later, in local time at Greenwich, 

 its commencement accordingly occurring in England at about midnight on 

 the night of the 18th of October, when no observers of shooting-stars in 

 England were upon the watch. 



At Bristol Mr. Denning's nightly registers of meteors were pursued in 

 October, chiefly in the early hours of the evening, with the following 

 results : — 



Date, 1876, October 13th. 14th. 15th. 17th. 19th. 21st, 25th. 29th. Total, 

 ration of watch 3 h 30'" 3" 30 m 5 h 45 m 2 1 ' 30 m 3 h 15'" 3 h 15™ l h 15'" 23 h 



). of Meteors ( seeu •■;- 

 [mapped... 



Besides these tracks, 28 meteors were mapped between the 10th and 20th 

 of September, making a total of 150 meteor-tracks for September and 

 October. 



Very few of the meteors mapped proceeded from either of the well-marked 

 radiant-points for the month, near v Orionis and 5 Auriga? ; but a radiant, in 

 the constellation Musca, of small trainless meteors with short swift courses (at 

 46°, -{-26°, 19 meteors, principally noted on the loth), was in great activity 

 during October, and 15 other radiant-points comprised the rest of the recorded 

 paths in about equal numbers among their radiations. The very slow-moving 



* See these Reports, vol. for 1871, p. 51 ; and Prof. Eirkwood'a work, recently published, 

 on ' Comets and Meteors.' In tbe ' Astronomical Register ' of May 1877 (vol. xiv. p. 124), 

 a letter from Mr. E. F. Sawyer, of Boston, U. S., records the results of 21 months' meteor 

 watchings, giving 2-4 meteors as the average half-hourly number there at9 h to9 h 30 m p.m. 

 The number reached six on 1875, May 26, July 30, Oct. 31, and 1876, Oct. 17 and Nov. 13. 

 Of the ten seen on Oct, 17, 19, and 20, 1876, five bright slow ones diverged accurately from 

 the star a Ceti (44°, +4°). This is probably the radiant Tupman 81 (43°, +4°, Oct, 14), a 

 neighbouring shower to the ' Eridanids ' of September and October, at 40°. - 6° (Greg, 138). 

 1877. 3[ 



