Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1834-11-26
From the New Haven Herald.
THE METEORS.

return Ol tne phenomenon VI dIllnS
Stars" on the morning Of November 10,
although so much less magnificent and
imposing than that of last year, that ma
ny persons who were on the look out,
were not only disappointed, but were
hardly sensible Of the presence Of any
thing uncommon among the stars. AS in
great eclipses of the sun, SO many extra
ordinary circumstances must cOnsPire,
that we cannot expect repetition of the
event, at the next conjunction, unless on
most diminished scale, SO in the pre-
sent case, recurrence Of the phenome-
non, sufficiently marked to identify it
was as much as could have been reason
ably anticipated. Such a recurrence,
perfectly well characterized, and attend-
ed with several interesting and remarka-
Bile peculiarities, we are able to assert
actually took place.
The Iresence Of the moon, in an ad-
vanced stage, until nearly a o'clock in
the morning, permitted only the larger
and more splendid meteors to be seen; it
is fairly TO be presumed that many Of the
smaller and fainter varieties, such in.
deed as constituted the last year much
the greater part, were invisible from this
cause, merely.
| The writer was assisted in his obser-
vations by MIR. Tutor LOOMS, and by
one Of his pupils, Mr. A. B. Halle, Of
the Senior Glass. On carefully compa-
ring notes, the following appear to be the
principal points worthy of notice:
/. The number Of mcteors, though
small, compared with last year, was evil.
dently much above the common average.
They began to be frequent as early as
four minutes past one o'clock, meantime,
when a FIRE ball Of unusual size and
splendor blazed forth in the east as sig
nal. From this period they were seen
TO fall at pretty uniform rate, until the
light Of day was far advanced. From a
quarter past 9, until a quarter past o.
clock, we counted in the eastern view,
embracing one third of the visible hea-
vens, 155. Some meanwhile fell in the
south west, and few in the north west,
but the number seen in the eastern hem
isphsre greatly exceeded that in the
western. Were we to estimate the
whole number which fell during the
night, at 1000, we should probably not
exceed the truth. After intervals Of Sc
veral minutes, three or four. meteors
would frequently make their appearance
in rapid succession. In the eastern'vlew,
those south Of the ecliptic, and those
north, were nearly equal in number, be-
ing for q considerable period as 81 TO
90
4 9. The directions Of the meteors were
more remarkable than their number, and
afforded more unequivocal evidence Of
the identity of the phenomenon with that
of last year. They appeared, as before,
10 radidte from a common centre, and that
centre was again in the constellation
LEO. In whatever part of the heavens
they fell, their lines of direction continu-
ed would pass through that point. The
attention Of MIR. Loomis was particular
! ly directed towards determining the posi-
tion Of the apparent radiant, having taxi
en- the bearings Of sufficient number OF
the lines Of direction, and afterwards ira
ced them on the globe. They meet near
the Lions eye, Declination 80 deg. l5m.,
Right ascension la deg. 80 min. The
radiant point is therefore little north
ward and westward Of the place it occu.
pied last year, which was near Gamma
: Leonis, Decl. 20 deg r. A. $50 deg
This point was not observed to vary ir
position for at least three hours, thus cor
responding to the conclusions which were
made out respecting the radiant last ye ear
a circumstance from which it was infer.
red that the source Of the meteors wa,
beyond the influence Of the earth's rota
ton, and consequently beyond the at
: mosphere.
: The meteors generally fell in the arc
Of great circles extending from the radi
ant point, but four were observed to as
: cend from il. One, at a quarter befor,
, 4 o'clock, shot from near Procyon to
: yards the radiant; and three were oh
D served, at different times, moving will
, extreme slowness horizontally, from ives
< to east south Of Orion, and CAMS Ma
= jor.
y The ZoDIAcAL LIGHT, which we hav
t observed to precede the morning twi
: light on every favorable morning sine
r the I lth Of October, began to be visibl
: as early as o'clock, and was seen L
| extend from the horizon upward, termi
d mating near the place from which the me
teors emanated; affording, as is thought
o much counte nance to the suggestion
o which the writer ventured to make in hi
n Observations on the Meteors Of Nov. 13
: 1893, (See American Journal of Sci
: ence, Vol. XVII, viz: that the show
: er Of meteors is derived from the extrem