Marvels of the Universe 1087 
recognizable laws, either 
of time or place in the 
heavens. It is only within 
the last hundred years or so 
that these vague ideas have 
been replaced, and we are 
now in a position to know 
for certain that these lum- 
inous visitors are, indeed, 
for the most part, subject 
to distinct laws, both of 
time and place. If a would- 
be observer of Shooting 
Stars is provided with a 
properly-prepared calendar 
for the twelve months of 
the year, he will learn 
from that, that year after METEORS. 
year Shooting Sans may He Three views at intervals of a Luminous Meteor of the Fire-ball type. 
observed on particular dates and in particular regions of the sky, these dates being now fairly well 
defined, and the particular places likewise. Modern observations spread over more especially the 
last fifty years enable us to say that showers of Shooting Stars of known regularity amount in 
number to upwards of seventy ; that is to say, if an observer, provided with such a calendar, care- 
fully scrutinizes between January and December of any year, seventy particular points amongst 
the constellations on seventy specified dates, he will be more or less sure to notice a few, or it may 
be dozens, or, under certain particular circumstances, hundreds of Shooting Stars. 
Attentive observation will disclose the fact that in such cases every star of a particular group 
seems to start from one and the same (or nearly the same) point. Hence the phrase “‘ Radiant 
Point,” which is now in common use in this department of astronomy. Though on any particular 
occasion no more than 
perhaps half a dozen Shoot- 
ing Stars may be seen 
on a given night, and a 
superficial observer may 
think they pass haphazard 
across the sky; yet such 
is not always the case, 
though the paucity of 
their number may make it 
difficult for him to believe 
there is any method or 
regularity in their move- 
ments. I have mentioned 
the fact that some seventy 
Radiant Points have been 
determined, but it must 
not be supposed _ there- METEORS. 
from that they are all Observed developments of a Luminous Meteor of the Fire-ball type October 19th, 
equally recognizable with 1877. The second figure shows effect ten minutes later than the first. 
