ON SOME RECENTLY DETERMINED METEOR SHOWERS. 21 



used in this investigation were those of the British Association Luminous Meteor 

 Committee, and many of the resulting radiants were found to coincide with those 

 I had myself observed. For the most part they appear to be remarkable more 

 for their long continuance than for transient intensity, and apparently comprise 

 a different order to such condensed streams as the Perseids, Leonids and Andro- 

 medes. Several of the best showers, either new or but slenderly supported by 

 other observers, are here pointed out as requiring re-observation during the last 

 half of the year. I have not included already well investigated streams which 

 have been more or less abundantly confirmed. To quote four examples : 





Pos'n deriv'd 



No. 







in 1876-8. 



met's. 





Orionids . . 



9i° + i7° 



147 



Oct. 15-31. 



Taurids I . . 



6l° + 20° 



182 



Oct. 12-Nov. 23. 



Gemellids . 



IIO° + 2 4 



82 



Oct. 12-Nov. 20. 



Geminids . . 



io 7 ° + 34° 



99 



Nov. 21-Dec. 21. 



The chief work of meteor observers in the future will be to determine the 

 duration of these and other showers. Opinion is at present divided on the sub. 

 ject, for while theory teaches us that they cannot last but for a few nights, obser- 

 vation proves that they often continue for a month, and sometimes for two 

 months. 



The important question is, Are there any showers of such long duration, 

 and, do they belong to one and the same stream? 



1. R. A. 32°-J-53°, (88 meteors,) July 20 — Aug. 2. Maximum, July 30 — 

 Aug. 1. A very rich shower of short and swift streak-leaving meteors well seen 

 in 1878. Heis gives a position at R. A. 37°-J-48°, (37 meteors,) July 19 — Aug. 

 2, which is probably identical. The meteors of this stream precede the Perseids 

 of Aug. 10 (R. A. 44°-j-56°), and is evidently a distinct system, though it has 

 no doubt been mistaken for the major shower, and has given it a much longer 

 duration than is really the case. There are a few of the true Perseids visible be- 

 fore Aug. 5 or 6. The new shower near x Persei may be termed Perseids II., 

 and it is worthy of note that in Oct. there is another radiant at this point. 



2. R. A. 341 — 13 , (54 meteors,) July 21-31. A well defined shower of 

 rather slow, long meteors, without streaks seen in 1878. It had been previously 

 traced by Tupman in 1869, July 27 — Aug. 1, with a radiant at R. A. 340 — 14 , 

 (61 meteors). This system forms a prominent shower at the end of July, (maxi- 

 mum 27-30, and in conjunction with the Perseids II. makes this epoch a special 

 one for many shooting-stars. 



3. R. A. 7o°-|-65 , (98 meteors,) July 25 — Aug. 12. This shower was in- 

 dependently found by Heis and myself. It is close to the small star, c (Bode) 

 Camelopardalis. Heis gives the center at R. A. 73°-f-63°, and traced 152 of its 

 meteors between Aug. 7-12. 



4. R. A. g6°-\-ji°, (106 meteors,) Aug. 6-13. This shower and the pre- 

 ceding one were detected by the projection of more than 700 paths (directed 

 from radiants eastward of the Perseids) in foreign catalogues, and was the chief 



