Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-08-22

Ths Great Meteor of July ~
REMARKS OF PROF. NEWTON ON IT'S APPARENT

PATH -
Although the track of the great meteor of the
10th July is not accurately determined, enough
is known to give an approximate path. OBJ
servations at New Haven and New York indi-
oste that il passed the line joining those cities
at an altitude Of As miles. Its track was YER
tical over Point Shippan, q little south of
Stamford, 81 miles from New Haven. and 35I
miles from the City Hall, New York. This
point is believed to be very accurately deter
mined
The meteor at this place was moving i'm
straight line about south, 90 degrees east, and
parallel to the earth's surface This is only
an approximation, and a further comparison of
obssrvatious will no doubt range, somewhat,
the position Of the line. If il be the true di,
rection. the meteor must have passed nearly
vertically over Chippewa, c. W., .Tonawands,
Warsaw, Havana, 0swego, Narrowsburg, Sing
Sing, Goshen, and Medford, L. I.
1u height near Buffalo, according to the ap-
parent altitude reported by Mr.. G. HalloweiI,
of fAlexandris, Va, was about 56 miles. It was
seen by Mr.. BENZ. Marsh, of Philadelphia, 2O6
miles at sea, that Is in N lat 30 deg IS min,
and W. long. 20 deg. min. It's apparent alti-
tude was estimated by him at deg, which
would make it 43 miles above the surface of
the sea.
The velocity of the body seems to have been
not less and not much greater than IL miles a
second. The earth was moving almost directly
Its orbit around the sun was not less than ~
miles a second.
1t is calculated, from perfectly reliable OBJ
servations, that not less than ten millions of
meteors enter the atmosphere every day, and
are burnt up. Some of these bodies revolving
around the sun in elliptical orbits like the
planets, and are a part of the comets. The
periodical meteors which occur in such abund-
ance on the morning Of August 10, and those
uhIch were so famous on the mornings of No
venber 13, between 1880 and 1S4O, are of this
class. %
Other meteors, it is believed come to us
from the stellar spaces. Such. no doubt, was
the brilliant meteor that exploded over the
southern part of New Jersey, on the forenoon
OF November Is, 1850.
IL, on entering the atmosphere, the meteor
OF July 20 had velocity greater than twelve
miles second, it must have been a visitor
from the stellar regions. 1t is of importance,
therefore, to obtain accurately its velocity If
any one has observations which will helm to
determine the path of the period of fight of
the meteor, they should be sent to some one
who would make proper use of them. Espe-
clally valuable are observations made q great
distance from the path Of the meteor, If &C
eompanied with the direction Of the points of
appearance and disappearance.
1t Is altogether probable that fragments of
the meteor came to the ground. Such frag-
ments, If secured, would have a high interest
In only two instances have the velocities of
meteors afording meteorites been obtained
In each case the data are far from being as
full and accurate as is desirable. If this me-
tesr should be proved to come from outside
the solar system, such fragments would be
unique in the world. The meteor need not
have been q very large body. A mass of stone
Few feet IN diameter, burning mp under in
tense heat, il is believed might furnish all the
appearance of that brilliant train
HI. A. NEWTON.
YALE COLLEGE, Aug. 6, 1860.