OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 81 



northern sky at the two last, southern stations, and observations in 

 northern stations at a distance from its track, combined with the localities 

 over which its course seems to have passed nearly vertically, determine 

 approximately the initial height along this course, and the direction and 

 slope of the real path by which the fireball approached the earth. This is 

 regarded in the Report as descending from about alt. 25^°, 30° N. from E. 

 (as measured from the map of the American States, and of the meteor's 

 projected path, appended to it), from a height of about 90 miles over the 

 northern point of Delaware State, in Newcastle County, to the low point 

 of disappearance which it reached near Fairfax County. The celestial 

 position of the corresponding radiant-point is at 115° + 38°. 



The observation most at variance with this deduction is that at 

 Richmond, where the apparent downward slope of the meteor's path at 

 disappearance was but 11° from horizontal, corresponding to a much 

 slighter real gradient of the meteor's path than 25^°, and to a height of 

 only 42 instead of 90 miles above Newcastle County at its first appearance. 

 A fair compromise between this and the Washington and other observa- 

 tions of the early part of the meteor's course would be effected if its 

 downward flight to the extinction point is regarded as having reached it 

 from a slightly modified direction at alt. 16°, 18° N. from B. instead 

 of alt. 25^°, 30° N. from B. ; and of this new provisional direction the 

 corresponding celestial radiant-point is 116° + 24°, instead of 115° + 38°. 

 A certain range denoted by the position 113°(±3°), + 32°( = ! = 6°) may 

 perhaps be indicated as the bounding limits within which a direction of 

 the meteor's flight may be considered to satisfy fairly the majority of the 

 observations. This is not so far distant from Mr. Denning's observed 

 position of a ' Geminid ' radiant-point on December 31, 1872 (D. 1872- 

 76, 27 ; at 108° + 36°), as to make it improbable that this grand detonating 

 fireball was a surpassingly large member of an already well-recognised 

 and established system of December shooting- stars. 



1878, April 2, 7 h 53 m p.m. Detonating fireball, Blackheath, Birming- 

 ham, and Leicester. — The real path assigned to this meteor in last year's 

 Report l admits of some small corrections by comparison with an addi- 

 tional observation of the meteor (described in the present fireball list) by 

 Mr. Christie at Blackheath, which was last year communicated to the 

 Committee by Major Tupman. No very material alteration of the real 

 course is, however, so produced, as Mr. Christie's observation is in 

 extremely close agreement with those of the observers at Birmingham 

 and Leicester. The radiant-point is given by approximate intersections 

 of the three recorded tracks only three degrees from its former place ; but 

 a rather later commencement was observed at Blackheath than at 

 Birmingham and Leicester, and the time of flight, though not noted 

 carefully at Blackheath, was thought to be about one or two seconds only, 

 instead of five or six seconds for its slow passage at Birmingham. The 

 point of first appearance is lowered by the new observation, and lies 

 somewhat nearer to Leicester. 2 The length of path corresponding to 



1 These Eeports, vol. for 1878, p. 303. 



2 An erratum, caused by typographical indistinctness in a map, was corrected on 

 the first page of the last year's Volume of these Reports, by a slight removal of the 

 meteor's calculated place of first appearance, and a mistaken alteration of the 

 town's name to Buckingham. The town really intended was Rockingham, on the 

 borders of Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, about 20 miles E.S.E.from Leicester, 

 over which the point of first appearance was supposed to lie. The adopted place of 



1879. G 



