OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS, 171 



in the evening hours, belonging chiefly to tho showers of the ' Geminids ' 

 and of the ' Taurids II.,' from /3, £ Tauri. These meteors were, as a class, 

 slower and brighter thau the majority of tho shooting-stars which had been 

 recorded in October and November. Mr. Corder's observations were con- 

 tinued simultaneously with Mr. Denning's in November and December, and, 

 as will be seen by the Tables at the end of this Appendix, in general corro- 

 borated very nearly the results which ho obtained. 



The ' Geminids ' of December \Qth-13th, 1876. — This annual star-shower 

 returned with rather greater brightness than usual on tho principal nights 

 (December 11th and 12th) of its periodic display. As was related by Mr. 

 Corder (in the same page of the ' Astronomical Register ' as that above re- 

 ferred to), his register included ninety-six meteors from the usual radiant- 

 point in Gemini between the 4th and the 12th (inclusive) of December. 

 Mr. Denning recorded 37 meteors of the same shower ; but the night of the 

 11th being cloudy at Bristol, these were principally noted on the 12th ; and 

 the 11th was, by Mr. Backhouse's estimate of the intensity of the shower at 

 Sunderland, rather the better-marked of the two maximum dates of their ap- 

 pearance. He writes : — " On December 11th and 12th the Geminids were 

 numerous, most so on the 11th. On the two nights I saw 28 meteors, which 

 was at the rate of 18 per hour for a cloudless sky. On the 8th and 9th the 

 Geminids were less numerous, but I saw three of them ; and I will forward 

 full particulars of the shower if they should be required." On the nights 

 of the 9th, 10th, and 11th the sky was either quite or partly overcast at 

 Writtle ; but in a clear interval of 40 m on the night of the 11th Mr. Corder 

 saw 16 Geminids. He saw the first member of the shower on December 

 4th, and he reckoned the horary number of meteors on the 11th and 12th as 

 " about 13 ' Geminids ' for one observer, or 16 shooting-stars, when uncon- 

 formable meteors are included." Although it was very clear on the 13th, 

 but few meteors, Mr. Corder adds, were seen, of which one or two were pos- 

 sibly from the radiant in Gemini. 



"With regard to their brightness Mr. Denning writes : — " The radiant in 

 Gemini supplied many large meteors, and I noted two as bright as "Venus, 

 and several others as bright as Jupiter." Mr. Corder states that " in ap- 

 pearance they were generally quick, short, and white, without trains or 

 streaks, except in the case of the larger ones, [of these] six first magnitude 

 meteors being lemon-yellow in colour, some leaving streaks and others having 

 trains. Several 2nd magnitude ones were bluish in colour." 



The radiant-point was very well marked, according to Mr. Corder's de- 

 scription, " between a and Geminorum, at R. A. 107°, Decl. + 35°-5, a few 

 meteors, however, radiating from near Pollux." Mr. Denning also sus- 

 pected the existence of a second radiant confirming this last position, and 

 while obtaining nearly the same radiant-point, at 106°, + 32°, for the principal 

 shower, believed that there must be two contemporary showers in Gemini 

 for December, one giving slow meteors with radiant-point between a and d 

 Geminorum, and the other a few degrees west of j3 Geminorum [and some- 

 what eastward from the former point], giving rapid meteors. The first true 

 Geminid was seen on November 21st ; and the meteors of this shower must 

 not be confused with the ' Gemellids,' a totally distinct shower in Gemini 

 (first seen by Herrick near e Geminorum, between October 20th and 26th, 

 1839, and discovered as a very abundant star-shower near e Geminorum from 

 the 21st to the 25th, and especially on the morning of the 23rd of October, 

 1868, by Zezioli). This shower Mr. Denning found very active, with a 

 radiant-point at $ Geminorum, from the 25th to the 29th of October, and 



