334 Shooting Stars of August, 1839. 



It will be noticed that its centre is about 40° N. of the point in 

 the ecliptic, towards which at that time the earth's motion is di- 

 rected, but differs little from it in Right Ascension. It will also be 

 remarked, that the radiants of the meteors of August 9 and 10, 

 and of December 6 and 7, (1838, this Jour., vol. 35, p. 364,) are 

 in the same region of the heavens, and that at the former time 

 the earth is moving towards a point about 117° from the place 

 towards which its motion is directed at the latter season. It 

 remains to be ascertained what is the position of the radiant as 

 observed in southern latitudes ; if indeed meteors are found to 

 be unusually abundant there at this epoch, which is somewhat 

 doubtful. 



Further Observations on the Meteors of Aug. 9th and 10th, 1838. 



1. Professor Barnard of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, 

 in an article published in July, 1838, in " The Flag of the Un- 

 ion," at the place just named, invited the attention of the south- 

 ern public to the meteoric season expected during the August en- 

 suing. At the appointed time the weather was generally very 

 unfavorable for observation. In a communication to the above- 

 mentioned paper of Sept. 12th, 1838, Professor Barnard remarks, 

 " During the entire night of the 9th — 10th ult., the sky was heav- 

 ily overcast, the greatest rain of the month having occurred on the 

 evening of the preceding day. Clouds very much obscured the 

 heavens on several nights previous. Nevertheless, I observed an 

 unusual number of remarkably hrighf vcv&teox^, though nothing 

 which could be denominated a shower. The same was the result 

 of observations continued through the two succeeding nights, 

 though the heavens were then clearer. I have heard but from 

 two places in the south which enjoyed an unobscured sky on the 

 night of the 9th — 10th. In those places quite an unusual num- 

 ber of meteors was observed, amounting in one place to more 

 than fifty in half an hour before midnight." 



2. The Lond. and Ed. Phil. Mag. Oct. 1838, contains observa- 

 tions by M : A. duetelet at Brussels; and by Messrs. E. J. Cooper, 

 L. F. Wartmann and others at Geneva. (1.) At Brussels the 

 night of the 9th Aug. was overcast. Night of 10th partly clear; 

 three ( ?) observers saw from 9h. 15m. to 10, 16 meteors ; from 

 10—11,29; fromll— llh. 50m., 39; afterwards cloudy. Night 

 of 11th, four observers saw from 9 — 10, 34 meteors; from 10 — 

 11, 19; fromll— 12, 24; from 12—1, 32; from 1—2, 12; from 



