New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-07-23
THE METEOR OF FRIDAY NIGHT.

BRILLIANT CELESTIAL PYROTECHNICS.
OBSERVATIONS FROM DIFFERENT sTAND-P0TNTs.
The unusually brilliant meteor of Friday night ap-
pears TO nave attracted very general attention. The
following letters, from different points, give the i'm
pressions Of some VIE saw it:
To the Editor ef 7as NJ Y. Tfoss<
SIR: Last night near 10 O'Clock, I saw q meteor
start from the est and travel rapidly due east, dis
epI caring near FIFTH avenue. This course was the
reverse of that mentioned by your correspondent Mr..
Gill. The appearance of the meteor was similar to
that described by Mr.. g., but did not consume more
than thirty seconds IN Passing from point to point and
BY ordinary rockets. There was no susceptible change
j. the atmosphere. II.
South B,osklyn, July 81. 1862
To N. Ed.to, If IN. ~ y Bi1vsG
SIR: AZ an accumulation OF evidence Is always de-
sirable in scientfc matters, wish to communicate my
obseryatio Of the meteor OF Friday evening, men.
toned BY of your correspondents. Its course
not as he Observes ON east 10 rest but from rest
To east, commencing las from my residence),
at the constellation Ursa Major, and continuing
in straight line TO Aquarius near the triangle called
the Pot.l It's appearance showed at first sin
Ole nucleus and canning TAIL breaking at midcOurse
into lw such nuclei, aud finally into several smaller
ones hose brightness gradually diminished TO nvis
bty. Ii occupied, should think, about half minute
III its course, and lighted up the atmosphere like Ro
candle. c. 9.
TO me Ess,or Of The n. Y. Tribune.
SIR: would Ike 10 correct, IN q rev PARTICULARS,
the account Of the meteor in today's Tribune. On
s first appearance about due west 1t consisted Of two
pale blue balls of fire. and viewed from First street.
Niiamsburgh, through light haze which was on the
river it exactly resemb!ed the blue lights OF roman
candle At Ibis time it left train of sparks, not fire.
As it ascended one of the balls Disappeared and when
nearly at highest the other grew very pale and lost
its Suddenly, however, as with an explosion
the two balls reappeared, much brighter than before
AID followed by long trains Of rppliog, orange
colored fame inst. I'D OF sparks. The two balls
apparently much further apart than before, and the
only rregularity saw in the notion OF the meteor
was eight aeceleraton just after they thus burst out
From this it continued, with loss OF brightness which
may have been only caused by increasing distance,
untl lost sight of it behind house it having been
visible scarcely a minute.
listened at ,enuvey for some moments after the ex
ploson but could dsceIn sound
A friend Of mine saw it at Newark, N. j., and
another in Forty eighth street. from both which places
pre- septed exactly the same appearance and occupied
the can places in the heavens that it's hight and
consequently its velocity, must have been very great
indeed. E.A.P.
WRliamsburgh July 81, 1860.
To tss Esiso, u TAs ". Y. 7yibvsa
SIR: About ole quarter before 10 last evening, on
board the steamer Hudson, just below Hampton, we
saw meteor ss far ahead Of ordinary EXHIBITIONS Of
the 30 the Great Eastern is superior to Rondout
canal.boat. It from the western horson with
light Elm liar To Roman candle, for which We at first
nstook it. But as il it increased in size aud
Drllllhncy urtll u WulCu pOlut
appeared ss follows: The body Of the meteor con-
sisted of two wedges Of brilliant fame, following
the other base foremost, resembling sloops hy as
square and we-detned in front and about twothirds
as brosd the SUM- snd in length about eight times the
suns diameter leaving string Of brilliant beads 30
80 degrees in length which gradually faded away until
nothing remained but two balls Of the body of the
meteor These almost reached the eastern horizon and
then disappeared. As II passed the zenith 1t was as
light under the boats awning steamboats, lantern
would have made it, and Of baeish color It occupied
about 80 seconds IL passing from the western TO the
eastern horizon with an equal motion
THOMAS B. HALLOcK
July II, lseo. JOHN y. KETCHAM.
LONG ISLAND SOUND, Friday Evening, .
July 20, 1860. I :
Ii hes been my good fortune to witness several me-
teors but never like that which has this evening
lost pasesd over At tan minutes before 10 clock
Just alter the steamboat City Of Hartford had pas ed
out of the Connecticut River and before she turned
westward for Ncw-York az was sitting vol forward,
my attention attracted by bright light in the
northwest, over The village Of Saybrook. The first
thought was that II balloon, sent up by heated
air from burning sponge dipped in alcohol and that
il bad caught fire and was being rapidly consumed Ii
was apparently shedding fakes OF fame Just as such
balloon would. But the breeze was from the souih-
wet and this was coming il. II was soon evil
dent that the blaze moving horizontally and with
astonishing speed As neared as IL showed AZ two
splendid balls OF fire. clOe together moving gracefully
ut perfectly uniform rate and leaving trail OF light,