HALF PAST EIGHT ia the EVENING. 
6 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
BESCRIPrION of the METEOR which 
-euas feen it LONDON ard. OTHER 
PLACES, NOV. 13, 1803, at about 
With a Copper Plate. 
¥ HE different figures in the. Plate, 
which accompany this Magazine, 
seprefent the meteor as it appeared to dif- 
ferent perfons fituated at different places. _ 
Jet hin go to the place in which he ftood 
when he faw the meteor, and there, hav- 
_~ At its frft appearance it feemed quite 
round, and well defined, except the part 
oppofite to the direction in which it was 
moviag, which feemed to project a little, 
and to terminate in a tail that extended 
to a fitajl difance. On each fide of this 
tail there were two or taree finaller balls, 
tmged, ar their extremities, with yellow 
and orange colours, and one or two with 
purple. The whole body continued to 
move togetherswithout any fenfible dif- 
ference in either colour or fhape, till within 
about a fecond of its difappearance, when 
it fuddenly altered its igure to fomething 
Tike. the fhape of an egs. At this mo- 
ment.its light became fo intenfe, that it’ 
was with difficulty that the eye could bear 
to look at it. Et feemed at this inftant as 
3f the ‘meteor had before been covered 
with one external coat, which now burft, 
and expofed a furface of brightnefs far 
farpaffing its former iuftre. 
The diameter of the large” ball at its 
firft appearance, fubtended an angle of 
about twenty minutes of a degree; the 
“fmaller balls, which feemed nearly of the 
_diameter of the large one. 
fame fize, were about a fifth part of the 
The altiiude 
ef the meteor was about so or 55 degrees, 
and continued nearly the fame during the 
whole time of ifs appearance, which was 
about four or five feconds. : 
_ In two minutes after the appearance of 
this. meteor, a noife was heard, which 
~ founded. like a diftant clap of thunder; 
this gradually became finter and fainter, 
till it was no longer audible. ‘The found 
feemed to follow the tract in which the 
meteor had before pafled, and it lafted a 
minute and forty feconds. The meteor, 
23. it moved along, had the general -ap- 
pearance of a fky-rocket. 
It is very defirable, that people who 
happen to be fo fituated as to fee a meteor, 
would take meafures to obtain its altitude 
as correétly as poflible, which may often 
be done with great accuracy, if the ob- 
ferver remember the fpot on which he 
ftood when he faw it. For, let him repair 
to that place with a Gunter’s quadrant or 
Deferiptian of the Meteor. 
[ Feb. Ty 
other inffrument that will meafure alti- 
tudes correctly, and if he recollect any 
object, as a tree, church, &c. with which 
_he compared the height of the meteor, he 
will eafily get its altitude tolerably exact 5 
2 he were in a clofe fituation, as. among. 
~ houfes, he will be able to come ftil] nearer 
the truth. Its bearings alfo may be had 
-by means of a needle and compals. 
If the obferver fhould happen to be in 
a field, where there are no neighbotring 
objects with which to make a comparifon, 
ing fixed a long rod or plain flaff perpen- 
dicutarly to the ground, let him recede 
from it, till, by looking over it, he fee the 
‘top ina line with the place in which be 
had obferved the meteor: if he then mea- 
fure his diffance from the fick, and the 
height of his eye from the level with the 
bottom, and then the length of the flick, 
he .will be able to deduce the altitude of 
‘the meteor. | ‘eo is 
One gentleman fuppofes the apparent 
diameter of the late meteor to ‘have fub- 
‘tended an angle of twenty degrees, and, 
by calculating the diftance, from the in- 
terval between the appearance of the lu- 
mimous body and hearing the found, he 
finds the real diameter to be 280 yards, 
or its circumference about half a mile 
nearly ; and. allo by accompanying, the 
extent of traét through which it moved, 
with the time of its duration, its velocity 
is found to be beiween feven and eight 
miles per fecond. enn a0 
In accownting for the nature and pro- 
duétion of meteors, it is evident, that no- 
thing can affift us more in our inquities, 
than a knowledge of their dimenfions,. 
their diftance, and the extent of fpace 
through which they move; and thefe can 
only be obtained by good obfervations. 
- Although their appearance, and the man- 
‘ner in which they burft, are very curious, 
and ought to be attended to, yet thefe 
alone are not fufficient to throw much 
light upon them, when unaffifted with any 
knowledge of their real fituation and di- 
menhions. ili: of |e ee a 
A perfon who faw the meteor pafling 
over St. Ann’s Church, Soho, deferibes it 
as an oblong elliptical folid, with a fhort 
radiating eruption from its preceding part, 
and numerous {parks from its hinder part. 
He compares it to the burning of com- 
buftible matter in oxygen. This gentle- 
man faw the great meteor of Auguit 18, 
3733, which was-round; but he thinks 
the one in November lait was quite as 
large, ‘ 
Jo 
