OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 



303 



THE YEAR ending in August, 1878 — continued. 



Length of 

 Path 



Only the end 

 of the 

 course 

 seen. 



Short course. 



Direction or Radiant -point 



Direction of its course 

 [from ?] about north-east. 



Course descending ; inclined 

 about 40° to the horizon 

 from S. towards S.E. [??] 



Directed from 8 Aquarii , 



Appearance, Remarks, ke. 



Burst, leaving a long trail of 

 bright red atoms like rocket- 

 stars for a considerable time. 



John Kinrade. ' Man 

 Chester Examiner 

 and Times,' August 

 3, 1872. (Commu- 

 nicated by R. P. 

 Greg.) 



The tail merged imperceptibly 

 into a long line of light, left 

 visible for a minute on about 

 10° of the last part of the 

 meteor's path. 



Dived down with a flash and 

 disappeared. 



Observer or 

 Reference 



J. E. Walker. < Natu- 

 ral History Journal 

 vol. i. p. 104, Sept. 



1878. 



W. F. Denning. 



the earth it burst into a thousand fragments. The streak left on its track 

 was likened at Ochtertyre, as the meteor descended a short distance in 

 the N.E., to the "train of smoke left by a fast passenger train passing 

 along." At Arbroath several observers noted it "as an enormous ball of 

 fire passing rapidly before them. At length it exploded with magnificent 

 effect, the fragments, as it were, remaining semi-enveloped in smoke for a 

 few seconds." Though appearing (as at all these places) in bright sun- 

 shine it was yet seen by many there, and one observer at Arbroath, who 

 only saw it burst, was yet, like others who noted its startling apparition 

 at such an hour so struck by its descent in broad daylight as to be some- 

 what alarmed. The streak was long and straight at first, about ^° wide, 

 without any condensations (at Coupar Angus) for about two minutes, and 

 only curled up into separate wreaths as it slowly disappeared. A light- 

 train, 5° or 6° long, following it Hke a tail, was seen at the most distant 

 stations, but no indications of the enduring cloud track nor of the explo- 

 sion were noticed at a distance ; and the only record of a distinctly audible 

 report or detonation having apparently proceeded from the fireball is that 

 of a distant peal of thunder, which was noted at about the time of its 

 disappearance at Dunbar. 



1878, April 2nd, 7 h 53 m p.m. A detonating fireball, Leicester and 

 Birmingham. — The observations of the fireball's apparent path at these 

 two places were very carefully recorded by the stars. When projected 

 upon a single plane perspective chart of the sky for the observer's 

 stations at the time of the meteor's appearance, they are found to be in 

 excellent accordance with each other, although presenting an enormous 

 parallax, or displacement of the apparent positions of the end point of the 

 meteor's path in the heavens at the two stations. This angle between 



