IS38.] 



M. Queleht on Shooting Stars. 



179 



elevated. With regard to the azimuths, of 34 trajectories, 23 had a 

 direction southwards and 11 to the north, 21 to the west, and 1.3 to the 

 east. Separating the shooting stars into two groups, we find 25 of 

 them whose course inclines more to a south-west direction, or whose 

 azimuth is lens than 135o to the west and45o to the east, and only 9 

 are in the other half portion of the heavens. This difference seems to 

 he connected with the direction of the motion of the earth in its orbit, 

 admitting that the meteors 4n question may be considered as small 

 asteroids. 



3. The hrillianci/ of shooting stars is very various; these meteors 

 sometimes surpass Jupiter and Yenus in light, and sometimes they are 

 only perceived by the help of finders. Some leave after them lumi- 

 nous tracks visible for some seconds after their passage, which are not 

 lobe confounded with those luminous and rapid traces which depend 

 upon the length of the sensation on the retina. The trajectories ap- 

 pear generally as straight lines. Some of them, however, are very 

 sensibly curved ; they are far from exhibiting a continued brilliancy 

 in their whole extent. 



4. The velocity of shooting stars has not been capable of determi- 

 nation with any precision, except for a very small number of these 

 meteors* : it is from 3 to 10 leagues a second. 



5. As to the mean number of shooting stars which can be observed 

 at any given epoch of the year, after having particularly examined 

 tiiis question! {Bulletin de V Acad. Royale de Bruxelles, vol. iii. p, 

 404, et seq.), I have come to this result, that a single observer or se- 

 veral observers directed towards one and the same region of the hea- 

 vens can see, on an average, eight shooting stars an hour, and that 

 several observers, placed so as to see the different regions of the hea- 

 vens, may reckon twice that number of them. 



6. It would seem that a cause exists which produces, from about 

 the 8th to the 15th November, more frequent appearances of shoot- 

 ing stars. I have also thought that I remarked a greater frequency 

 of these meteors in the month of August (from the Sth to the 15th). 



7. As to the nature of shooting stars many doubts still remain on 

 this subject : are they to be considered as asteroids, according to 

 an hypothesis of some standing ; or as stones shot from the volcanos 



* For six of these meteors whose velocity I was able to calculate, I found 5 leagues, 

 7 C 4-5, 3-0, and 3*4, mean 4-7 leagues. 

 T See the i^recediug paper.— Edit. 



