New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-08-04

slant, as il completely hidden BY species Of
whitsh smoke which proceeded from it at tbis
moment, after which it reappeared with primitive
brill abcy. One would have said that the meteor
in question was undergoing absolute oombu' tion.
In New Haven, nearly 400 were counted on the
10th, after midnight.
In the August epoch of 1855, several are re.
COZ ded seen on the Sd, a. equal to Jupiter when
brightest. One at lO4 o'clock, five or six times
Jdpter in size, having blush color, aud leaving
behind train Is degrees long. 1t cart ga light
upon the ground" A Iiths before II O'Clock one
appeared, quarter of the size OF the moon.
For more than half its course, it was colorless,
wel-defned, circular body, leaving streak Of
eight behil in its track. When more than half
"way the meteor altered, increasing to double its
"origir al size, and became blue in color" On
the 10TH one is described as having ga rolling
EMOTION left NO streak, but was itself collection
g of rounded bodies, each equal to fourth magni-
Z" tude star, ard about sixteen in number" On
the 18th, ga bright light behind the bills, pre-.
Z" ceded the rising Of bright body like the full
"moon. 1t gradually diminished to small altar.
:" Rays proceeded from it 90 ~ sides, not shooting
" out, but stationary" OF those visible between
the 9th and 18th, one observer says: IL were Of
fsst msgbitude, 20 of second magnitude, 30 Of
third magnitude aud 81 smaller. In AZ examples
of these, II w. colorless, II blue, fred AID
yellow. Nearly all had streaks. Estimating tie
plumber sctuslly seen to have been fair average,
gives $3.50 for the sum total that fell during the
five days, 9th-13th of August, 1865.
Aug. IS, 1856, one appeared, described as has-
ing a very beautiful appearance, with long
whitsh red lice running from it, emitting sparks.
Its motion Was comparatively slow.
Aug. 81, of the Some year, one was seen of red
dish yellow color, which rapidly increased in size
from third magnitude to two-thirds tie size of
the moon, and sudG enly vanished when at its maxi
mum brightness. Its shape was that Of wreath.
A writer in The London Times of Aug. II, 1857,
says:
Monday, being the 10Th Of August, astronomers
were al on the lookout for the periodical falling
stars l began my watch on the 9th, when some few
brilliant examples occurred. On the lOth they were
more numerour as also on the llth but the 18th
they assumed very unusual forms and colors.
Many hundreds fell in various directions.
They descepded slowly, in general, wi bright yel
low hsme--others were splenddly crimson, aud some
bright blue and purple"
Aug. 25, one was witnessed in Liverpool as q
brilliant bali, third the size of the mOOR Of
orange hue. 1t burst, throwing out shower of
fire " hich disappeared in about two seconds.
Aug. 2, 1858, one had an undulating, serpeutine
course. On the Stb one was SEEM which at first ap-
peared the size of star of the first magnitude.
After passing So and increasing in size, it sudden
ly threw of shower of intensely brilliant green
sparks, and at the same instant disappeared.
On the 18th one appeared which was remarkable
for varying from considerably brighter than first
magnitude star to less than fourth, atintervsls of
about 70.
On the same night another observer saw one
one third the size Of the moon. 1t was at first
light blue, then green, and finally red point. Its
shape was round, and continued uniform until the
moment of vanishing when it got sensiby smaller
and disappeared as apOint.
Larger meteors, rays one, are seen about the I'd,
and richer displays about the 10th Of August. The
point of divergence at this of the year, that
IS 10 say the place Of meeting of the courses OF the
met. ors, if produced backward, appears to be-
somewhere in the neighborhOod of the pole. Cas-
siopeia is most favored the center of emanatioo
The direction taken is mostly south-westerly
MeteOrs appear, however, in every elevated por
ton of the heavens, and shoot in other directions
Camelopardalis and Cygnus are also points of
divergence for great many.
There are two great classes of shooting stars those
that increase in brilhaDcy during their progress,
and those that decrease as they proceed. They
often increase rapidly from small to great size.
They are sometimes accompanied with distinct
report on disappearance. Some are seen with
trains, and some without. They are sometimes
mere "spurts of light" probably very distant
meteors They are sometimes cluster of stars,
increasing rapidly in brancy az they and fall sepa-
rate, Ike rocket bursting in direction. They
sometimes fade away at both ends, before becom-
ing invisible in the middle. Summing up the re-
suits of the last ten years observations these gen.
civilizations seem to be admissible: Eirst that the
number of neteors increases regularly from p m.
TO a. 10. Second that nearly twO-thirds of the
whole number originate in the eastern hemisphere
of the sky.
The distribution of colors one observer tabuates
thus yellow, Ia, red z; blue, 5; coorless, 2. 1t
seems quite evident that the greater portion, says
Prof Baden Powell QS49) of these bodies move
in lines parallel to each other.
Frequent cases occur of star falling in the very
same track of previous one, at an interval Of q
few seconds. When this happens, it invariably
moves at an equal speed with the one which had
gone before b. p. suggests that tho follower ia an
onF< ho fkar ham