90 BEPOET — 1879. 



on its northern side. There appears to be a long-stationary radiant near 

 this place, Greg, 1876, No. 15, January 1-March 16, 141°-2°, which 

 includes Mr. Greg's earlier radiant centres, S t SG 1( and some more recent 

 determinations. Thus in Tupman's catalogue, No. 3, January 4, is at 

 142° + 5° ; and the radiant-point of the fireball of March 17, 1877, which 

 he derived from the observations (these Reports, vol. for 1877, p. 135), 

 was fairly well determined at 145°-5°. In Mr. Denning' s new list of 

 stationary meteors, one of fourth magnitude, observed by Mr. B. F. Sawyer 

 on February 24, 1878, is recorded at 145°+ 8°, which is very close to the 

 presumed place of the radiant-point of the great detonating meteor seen 

 this year on the morning of February 22. 



1879, February 24, 2 h 53 m a.m. ; Yorkshire. Large detonating fire- 

 ball. — The surprising and alarming nature of this meteor's apparition in 

 York and its neighbourhood was described in the ' York Herald ' and in 

 the ' Middlesborough Gazette.' A pear-shaped ball of fire travelled at 

 York across the sky, casting a light upon the town as strong as that of 

 day. After a moment's interval following the fireball's disappearance, a 

 peal of thunder burst upon the town, wakening sleepers who had not yet 

 been aroused by the blaze of light, and shaking doors, windows, and the 

 houses. The same occurred at Stockton, but a snowstorm, which only 

 began immediately after the sight appeared at York, was there raging, 

 and also at Newcastle at the time ; and the intensity of the light at these 

 places, ' as bright as a summer day,' which the invisible body shed upon 

 the scene, ' changing in about a dozen seconds from white to a beautiful 

 blue before it disappeared,' was all the more surprising (though perhaps 

 exalted by the whiteness of the snow) from the thickness of the storm. 

 The shock of the explosion was even more incomprehensible on this 

 account at Stockton than at York, and it seems to have more universally 

 inspired alarm, and to have passed for an earthquake shock, in the northern 

 part of the county than at York, where the fireball was well seen. At Liver- 

 pool the sky was clear, and the meteor, like a powerful rocket, but without 

 a tail of sparks, illuminated the town vividly, and was watched for some 

 seconds, even in streets from which little of the sky was visible, travelling 

 rapidly away in a south-easterly direction. It was distinctly seen at 

 Stockport, near Manchester, an observer walking N.N.B. perceiving, when 

 half dazzled by the light, up in the air on his right, a whitish globe of 

 light with a mist of pale colour round it that lighted up the landscape for 

 a second and made every object visible in the distance. At Birmingham, 

 officials leaving the chief post-office turned about at the light, which was 

 like that of an electric lamp, and called each other's attention to a large 

 pear-shaped object falling slowly down over the houses in a E.N.E. or N. 

 by E. direction, leaving a bright tail of some considerable length behind 

 it, and soon disappearing, when the sky then became intensely black. 

 The harbour-master of Shoreham (six miles west of Brighton, and 213 

 miles south from York) saw it pass in about 30 seconds between two hills 

 north of him, beginning at an altitude of 11° ' N. by W.,' and going 

 thence ' to N.W. by W., in a considerable curve,' with a long tail like a 

 kite, of a magenta colour, making everything around as bright as day. 

 At Dundee (185 miles N.N.W. from York), it ' fell in a westerly direction 

 from a dark cloud hanging apparently over the rising ground west of 

 Newport. When first seen it gave forth a clear silvery light, which 

 quickly changed into purple, and afterwards the meteor assumed a bar- 

 like form, one end of which was brightly red. The morning was clear and 



