OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 

 OBSERVED, CHIEFLY IN THE YEARS 1878-1879 — continued. 



103 



Length of 

 Path 



Direction or Radiant-point 



Appearance, Remarks, &c. 



Rose upwards ; E. to W. 



Fell downwards. (Course at 

 Saffron Walden, from S.W 

 to N.E. ; at Brentwood 

 from S.S.W. toN.N.E.) 



' Descending at a small an 

 gle ; ' course about from 

 north to south. 



About N.E. to S.W., pass- 

 ing (?) a little southward 

 from the zenith. 



out of sight. The report fol- 

 lowed the meteor's disap- 

 pearance in just 4 minutes 

 by a watch. 



Extremely large, followed by a 

 stream of flame, and bursting 

 at last into fragments which 

 shot earthwards in various 

 directions, with a dull but 

 distinctly audible report. 



A fine meteor. First seen ap- 

 pearing from above the house 

 burst at last into numerous 

 brilliant fragments. 



Projected a smaller body some 

 5' or 6' in front of its nucleus, 

 near the end of its flight. 



Lit up the sky vividly. (Burst 

 into a shower of sparks ; 

 Brentwood. The glare in- 

 creased gradually, ending 

 with a sudden blaze ; Go- 

 dalming.) Report like that 

 of an explosion (heard like 

 thunder at Haverhill in 30 

 sees, or 45 sees., rumbling 

 down to N.W. from alt. 45°. 

 A rumbling sound in 20 

 sees, heard at Saffron Wal 

 den.) 



Had the night been dark it 

 would have been a grand 

 fireball. 



Observer or Reference 



ceedings, May 2, 

 1879. 



Indianopolis • Dail v 

 News,' Feb. 7; D 

 Kiikwood, ibid. 



Communicated by Jos. 

 Baxendell. 



J. L. McCance. 'The 

 Observatory,' vol. ii. 

 p. 417. 



The Observatory, 

 vol. iii. p. 22. ' Nat 

 Hist. Journal,' vol. 

 iii. p. 68. (V. Cor- 

 nish, W. F. Denning, 

 J. E. Clark.) 



Pear-shaped, followed by a tail 

 two or three times the length 

 of the head, leaving no 

 streak upon its track. Burst 

 when over-head with fre- 

 quent sparks and scintilla- 

 tions; but at the end of its 

 course the ball 'disappeared 

 in mid-air.' Light like day- 

 light, effacing street lamps, 

 and stronger than the electric 

 light. Report like a sudden 

 'bang' in 1^ or l^ m , like 



A writer in the ' Man 

 Chester Guardian,' 

 Feb. 27 (or 26?) 1879, 



Accounts of several 

 observers, collected 

 by J. E. Clark. 

 Notes in the ' Ob- 

 servatory,' vol. ii. p. 

 417 ; and ' Nat. Hist. 

 Journal,' vol. iii. pp. 

 69-70. 



