OBSERVATIONS OP LUMINOUS METEORS. 91 



frosty, but notwithstanding this the temporary illumination was almost 

 startling in its brilliancy.' (' Dundee Advertiser,' March 25, 1879.) 



The vague descriptions contained in nearly all the newspaper para- 

 graphs not allowing of any accurate deductions, Mr. J. E. Clark, of York, 

 applied himself, by correspondence with persons at a distance, and by many 

 actual measurements at York, to collect materials for determining the 

 meteor's real path. At York the meteor disappeared, as well as could be 

 ascertained, 41° W. of S., altitude 10°, observed by a point above the 

 Minster roof, near one of its towers. The point of first appearance was 

 less certain, but whether to the north or to the south side of the zenith, 

 the apparent path of the meteor certainly passed very nearly overhead. 

 The time interval of arrival of the sound was practically obtained in several 

 cases by repeating actions during the interval from recollection, and it was 

 very nearly 1^— If minute, while one observer estimated it at half a minute, 

 and another as ' fully two or three minutes,' or twice the longest time 

 taken for a clap of thunder to arrive. The former of these exceptional 

 cases is probably below, and the latter, though confidently stated, probably 

 above the truth, and a lapse of one and a half or two minutes, it seems 

 probable, must have really intervened, corresponding to a distance or real 

 height of the meteor's flight over York, of 18-25 miles. For determining 

 the height and position of the point of disappearance but one useful obser- 

 vation, that of Mr. S. Walliker, at Hull, can be satisfactorily combined 

 with the York line of sight, although the very distant description at 

 Dundee confirms in a general way the position which was so obtained. 

 By a careful plan of his position, which was at his own front door, Mr. 

 Walliker found the apparent path at Hull to have been from 4° W. of N.,. 

 alt. (estimated) 60°, beginning perhaps before caught sight of about 10° 

 E. of N., to W. by N., alt. 20° (estimated altitude). The intersection of 

 the latter line with thai; of the disappearance seen at York is midway 

 between Selby and Leeds, only 16 miles S.W. from York. The corre- 

 sponding height of the meteor above the earth's surface at this point, on 

 the York line of sight, is only three miles ; another observer's estimated 

 altitude of 30° would give ten miles, but with allowance for unconscious 

 exaggeration near the horizon, cannot increase the final height certainly 

 to more than six or seven ! 



To find the point of first appearance, from equally scanty data, a 

 valuable account at Whitby, by Captain E. Heselton, of the ' Margery,' 

 passing two miles N.W. of Whitby on the voyage from Seaham to 

 Scarborough, when the meteor was observed, states that it passed directly 

 overhead, from alt. 45°, 20° E. of N. to alt. 45°, 20° W. of S., a course 

 which, prolonged, passes through York and Selby, and substantiates the 

 other observations. On this track the direction and distant altitude at 

 Hull, as well as those obtained at York, make the meteor's height over 

 Whitby 65 or 80 miles ; but regarding them, from their character as 

 estimates, as overrated, the probable height of the fireball over Whitby, 

 40 miles N.N.W. from York, can scarcely have been more than 40 or 50 

 miles. This estimate, making the meteor's height as it does, over York, 

 about 17 or 18 miles, agrees with the time interval of the sound there, 

 and leads it to be regarded as probably a near approximation to a point 

 of early appearance in the meteor's real path. That it began at a much 

 earlier point is shown by Captain Hesel ton's first view of it 45° before 

 reaching the zenith at Whitby, and by the brightness of its light behind 



[Continued at page 120.] 



