334 report — 1878. 



Another rich and important meteor- shower of bright shooting-stars 

 with long slow courses, with a radiant point near 5 Aquarii at 341°— 13°, 

 was seen by Mr. Denning on the night of July 27th, and many more were 

 recorded from it on the two next nights, while on the last clear night of 

 observations, on August 1st, its brief but notable and very active display 

 had entirely disappeared. With the shower of Perseids II, this fine and 

 conspicuous star-shower of o Aquariads (already recorded, T. 43, on the 

 same date and with the same radiant position, by Captain Tupman, in the 

 year 1870,* and seen in August, 1877, at the same place by Mr. Denning), 

 deserves to be ranked with the Orionids, Geminids, May Aquariads, and a 

 few other distinct, but not yet much studied, meteor systems, among the 

 major, or special star-showers of the year ; and to have its date and radiant- 

 point more frequently examined to discover if its appearance is annual, or 

 subject to regular or irregular fluctuations. 



The Perseid shower of August 10th, 1878. — The brightness of the moon 

 until after midnight, followed immediately by that of approaching day- 

 break, detracted from the apparent abundance of the shower. The sky 

 was quite overcast on the nights of August 9th and 11th ; but cloudless 

 on the 10th. At Bristol Mr. Denning counted about 130 meteors in a 

 watch of four hours and a half, between 10 h 30 m p.m. and 3 h a.m. ; thirty- 

 three meteors being counted in the last half-hour, of which twenty-six were 

 Perseids. This rate of appearance was less than the half-hourly number 

 (forty-two or thirty- three Perseids and nine unconformable meteors), be- 

 tween 12 h 30 m and 2 h 30 m , a.m., on the night of August lOth-llth, 1877, 

 although fog, haze, and clouds then slightly dimmed the stars. The 

 shower's appearance this year was accordingly less active than at the 

 corresponding time in August, 1877. The paths of seven Perseids, as bright 

 as the planets Mars and Jupiter, and of five equal to first magnitude stars, 

 were mapped, and several other bright Perseids were seen, all of which 

 left persistent streaks. Attention was especially given by Mr. Denning 

 to mapping the tracks of Perseids near the radiant point, and of these 

 the foreshortened paths traced backwards were found to diverge from two 

 centres. 



Eadiant I at 44° + 59°, 2§° preceding B Camelopardi ; 



„ II at 42-5°+ 54°, nearly midway between y and ij Persei. 



The former point agrees with Mr. Denning's observationsf at 44° + 58° - 5, 

 43° + 59°, and 43° + 58°) of the position of the Perseid radiant-point in 

 August 1874-6-7 ; and it is in close proximity (3° N. of h Persei at 54° + 

 56°) with the radiant-point of the Perseid shower in August, 1863, recog- 



* The same shower has also been variously recorded, between the dates of 

 July 20th and August 13th, by Heis and Neumayer, Schmidt, and Weiss (six 

 positions), and is G. 109 in Mr. Greg's General List of Meteor Showers, 1875-6. 

 The shower of meteors with long courses, diverging from a radiant near Fomathaut, 

 seen by Professor A. S. Herschel on the 28th of July, 1865 (see these Reports, vol. 

 for 1865, pp. 104, 123), appears, on reprojecting their recorded paths, to have been, 

 without doubt, one of the regular appearances of this shower, four of whose meteor . 

 paths, traced backwards, intersecting each other accidentally with exactness near 

 that southern star, gave a false impression of the radiant's position (at 338°— 28°), 

 15° south of the true one in declination. 



f See these Reports, vols, for 1876, page 151, and 1877, p. 158 (foot-notes), and 

 vol. for 1877, p. 173. The same places are also given (Nos. 18, 16, and 65) in 

 Mr. Denning's three shower-lists, in the ' Monthly Notices ' of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society (vol. xxxvi., p. 284 ; xxxvii., p. 108 ; and xxxviii., p. 305) of 1871-75, 1876, 

 and 1877. 



