The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-15 00:00:00

THE METEOR, As SF `:N AT VENTN )il

The interesting account (say, Mr. R. J. Mann)
the appearance of the meteor of the 7th inst. at Seven-
oaks and Blackheath suggests to me the propriety of
placing one or two facts regarding its aspect in
this low position on record in your columns. At the in-
stant of its dashing through the terrestrial atmosphere
I chanced to be passing along an open space, with my
side towards the sea. The sky was perfectly cloudless,
excepting for a low fog bank in the far west, and the
twilight was so strong that it was scarcely a departure
from daylight. Nevertheless the light of the meteor
was so intense that it startled me as a vivid flash of
lightning would have done. My first impression was that
it was a very brilliant rocket, and it was only when I
had had time to make the reflection that it was going the
wrong way that my attention was sufficiently fixed to en-
able me to notice carefully what was occurring. This,
however, gave me abundant opportunity to observe that
the descending luminary was of a blueish white tint,
and bad a very large apparent diameter, certainly not
less than from seven to eight minutes of angular mea-
sure. It fell exactly as is mentioned in Mr. Rogers'
description. For an instant it left behind it a vividly
incandescent line, very much resembling the track
of a sky rocket, but much more finely and strongly de-
fined against the sky. My attention was very closely
given to this part of the phenomenon. Gradually I per-
ceived the fine line of incandescence was acquiring
breadth. In three minutes I could distinctly see that it
was a broad column of reflective vapour illuminated by
the rays of the sun, then below the horiz-in to the ter-
restrial surface here. But there was an interval before
this, when I could not satisfy myself, by the most exact
inspection, whether the line was emitting or reflecting
light, whether it was a fore streak or a streak of illumi-
nated vapour. It is my impression that it very gradually
passed from the one condition into the other.
The burst of blaze was so sudden and instantaneous
that it attracted my observation on the instant, and quite
involuntarily. I fancied that I was sensible of a dis-
tinct hissing sound, but, being at the moment deeply
engaged on a far different train of thought, I could not
command the trustworthy evidence of my senses for two
or three seconds. Upon reflection afterwards I was very
doubtful whether it was not simply the first involuntary
idea of a sky-rocket having been fired, that carried with
it by association the notion of the sound always accom-
panying such an incident. If I bad been asked previously
to this reflection whether I had done so, I should un-
hesitatingly have said I did hear a rush. Now, I am
simply in doubt whether I did or did not.
The altitude of the first burst, estimated by the top of
the visible remaining trace of its track, was very con-
siderable here. It was certainly more than 40 degrees
above the south point of the horizon. I think it was 45
degrees above. I was too far from borne to get the
chance of making any instrumental measurement, but,
as I am praetised in making estimates of angular mea-
sure by my eye, I am quite sure of my statement
within this amount. Therefore, with a ba,e of 52
miles in declination (the difference of the parallels
of Ventnor and Sevenoaks), the parallax must have
been at least twenty degrees. This would give ap-
proximately a distance for the meteor of about 130
niles from Sevenoaks. It is, however, my impression
that the meteor was much nearer to Ventnor than to
Sevenoaks. According to Mr. Rogers' observation the
altitude of its top was 20 degrees, and it vanished 12
degrees above the horizon. To me the altitude of its
top was above 40 degrees, and I certainly saw it within
10 degrees of the horizon. The length of its fall was
about eight degrees to Mr. Rogers ; to me it was 30
degrees. The linear dimension of the fall was a larger
angular quantity to me than to Mr. Rogers, in this pro-
portion, on account of its being a nearer object (traced
in its columnar light) to me than to him.
The apparent dimensions of the vapour column, how-
ever, grew gradually less as it suffered dispersion. Be-
fore it faded entirely it was diminished in apparent
length by more than one-half. It evidently drifted
rapidly upwards and outwards as it faded. The form of
the vapour column was exactly that which Mr. Kimber
describes—wand-like, with taper extremities ; then its
ends began to drift opposite ways, and its general out-
line to become more and more sinous. It was visible
here for 20 minutes after the first burst of the meteor.
The column continued to grow broader for several mi-
nutes before it began to contract its dimensions ; then
it afforded obvious indications of the "approach of dis-
solution." I think, however, that the rapid descent of
the sun beneath the horizon had as much to do with its
final disappearance as the dispersion of the vapour.
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