New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-11-16
ryr2os Wo&f

| train j, qthie permanent, you fnVH1 't"1"pSfVfs ~
ron d.. to day until bsy psss ont Of the nsis'''S
hood Of tie sun Bot The trains Of metcorsTr,l.
| Rcpoter.-TLeres snotherf VITA, maerfhccn
train, See yonderl there's another, ,,f ;, ~
Ast,0aoncy.-D you notice tina. these Lac had
rarallel courses ? That is common esy'iu1<anoe
Do you obseye, too, thai if you trace those you have
seen backward beyond their siarng.p'it, I'ey vii
nearly all meet not far from The headquarters Of ui'
Lynx su 81 y .f1
Regorter.-Lynx7 What is that tst. taef
Astyor0mer.-An inconspicuous constellaiiony sbo1t
in The zenith now You zee tie Twins and the great
Dipper. Lynx lies between them. IL Is rather o.
vision of space than constellation Of stars. There
Reporier-wLat a splendid onei What super"
train il had
Asfroaomey-Yes, that was as bright % Capeh.
H. train was about fifteen degrees long. Did you no.
tice what part Of the train disappeared first !
RepoS7er-No Ii see med to me to goovf All together
AstronOnso-Did you not SEQ that the head or star
oustrppcd the train, and vanished by itseB all Of
sudden, while The luminous line melted softly away
fiom the ends toward the middle where it was much
the brightest ft bth
Reporter 70 see great deal more than
do. must try to keep closer watch. But they
come and are gone quickly, that seemto have no
time to think about them. There goes, and there
and there's another! What are they, Astronomer, do
you supposef B .gar
As'r0H0mo.-Little masses of matter analogous 10
this which makes up our earth, revolving about the
sun just as we do, except that they to 90 IN
groups very much, or shoals as they hare been eesd
from their great number There are evidently psry
of such clssters. The earth, az II swing. round the
81 Il, of IL.
tain seasons of the yearso runs the theory and il y
every way probable. Brought near to the great mass
of the earth they are powerfully attracted b. IT,. and
rush toward it with greas velocity.
Reponte.-They look az if they tcok lire sdsdcniy.
ard were consumed with flash. ln
Astroaomer.-ThRt il very near the fact. Oafcoun-
.ryman, Daniel Vaughan, ed, has investigated the
sabject carefully. Hiybook, by the way, Popular
Physical Astronomy, published in 1853 N Cncnaati.
and noticed with high eaconms abroad does not APP
pear % be had in New-York. The booksellers haven't
it, and say they bea Of Il. This is credible, for
il is equally myth at the libraries, not Of them
owning copy OF it; dothe osscers, 80 far as csn
learn, know anything about it,
The old opinion which has the greatest acceptance
to the shooting stars attributes their luminosity the
condensation their swift passage causes in IL esrths
atmosphere, into which they are Suddenly hinged
But Mr. Vaughan thinks this t.rsory untensb.s. His
doctrine is that the luminosity of the sum- store, me-
teors, etc., has common origin, viz: in the otcnsa
ton Of an ethereal medium which Ills all space This
medium collects as a superatmosphsrie envelope round
the earth as well other large besiies by virtue OF
gravitaon; and if small cosmicaf body is attracted
toward the earth by reason Of the superior mass OF
the latter when the orbita movement brings them
"a
ethereal envelope of the earth with snch
furious velocity as to produce in II chemical ar
ton resulting in light of the extent which the compress
sion of the ether is increased by falling meteortes
Some idea may be collected he tells us, from the fart
that body flying the earths surface, at the rate
of 20 miles second, would mpat TO the air pressure
of $50 600 pounds TO the square inch, or over 10000
times the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere II APP
pears according TO this theory that these bodies are
luminous only beyond or the boundary of our aerial
atmosphere that they ceased to be their entrance
into the denser air. ..... .
Pcp0rfer.-Is il true, Astronomer, tbst the graf
meteor of last July was nearly mile in aiameterl
ssyono,aer-Cacuation has made out something
like that But Mr.. Vaughan suggests plausiby enough,
that much Of the apparent magnitude of great meeOrs
may be due to The reflective property of the condensed
atmosphere about thel, WHICH dcs az sorb Oh rTOf.
He very justly remarks that, although observers.
judging from their luminosity, have ascrbed to them
diameter of 80 to 100 feet yet from the manner in
which so many myriads of them have been lost in the
atmosphere during the great metore slpsers of l799
and 1883: we cannot assign to them niger rank than
b;soner, drops of rain far - sctai magnitude
il concerned. ..
Rcpo,fcr.-I have seen a good many, Asironomes,
while you have been speaking. .
AstrOnome.-Yes; one was beautiful little object
like clear spark which swept in solitary brightness
across Cepheus some thirty degrees and vanished
among The coils Of the Serpent and nearly ALL you OBJ
served bad their center of radiation the point
directly overhead. That is not always the case-sl-
though ihey usually exhibit favorte places of depar-
tune, Vet il i sometimes in constellation and sonic
times in another. while We have been watching, so
how the sky has redeemed in the east.
Rey0,ter.--Yes. et.t,
Asfroaomrr.-And how few stars~ n visible nossass
compared with an hour ago--only she brighteszre--
main. ...f-I
Repo,fr-What splendid star isthsi yonder A ron
oiner have wanted 10 a.s y0u before
As'roaomer- Venus, which echpees insr s'sd~
all the other stars in the heaveus n youw watch,
it ar the day dawns YOU viii see that even the '7iSen
cannot blot it out and if yor'ksep its exist posi-
ton, you can see it all day if the SKY Is cle-s The
light Of morning now mp So fast, that We shaii
not be able to catch many shooting $40 though
you must undertahd it i. because we tsea.
They there all the same, ~saisg along IN the ds
tine, as at night; sud Il ae -hould wash the san
through the telescope .aar day, IN Que ot tGes'
rich periods of display, nigh, zee thon shoot asros1
its disk like black specks. Tnis interesting phenomenon
was witnessed by Mesier- Vol, how many 40 you
count up