Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-07-28

us On Friday evening, the 10th, about o'clock,
in apparently close proximity to The earth, Of a
splendid meteor. It was seen by many Of our
citizens who we're startled by its brancy,
Violoeiiy, nearness, and tho rocket.like wbiz
which Il caused BY some It was seen as sin-
se body with long sparkling train.and. by 9th.
ers as two bodies separate and distinct. The
opinion, aud positive declaration Of some OBJ
servers Is that II became disintegrhied by
the force OF motion, thus accounting for the
different condition. 10 which II was seen by differ
ent persons SO close did II appedt to those OF
our citizens who had the good luck to see it,
that the thought naturally arose, that it was
only matter Of local consequence, designed
for the special entertainment Of those Who lived
within our borough limits, Unfortunately for
such an ambitious idea, the telegraph informs
us that this erratic body was not unmndfu OF
the attention paid to distinguished visitors by
the denizens Of New York, aud that the meteor
passed over that city and Brooklyn, and that
it's appearance there was that of two balls OF
FIRE, each with q tail, and almost adjoining each
other. Its course was easterly Its appear.
ance, as to distance, seems TO have been very
deceptive, for all accounts represent !. as near
by, though viewed from points widely distant
from each other.
The following article on this subject we copy
from the Cleveland Leader:
The meteor which shot across the firma-
ment the evening Of July goth, was seen by
thousands Of people, and over range Of the
earth's surface for q thousand miles from
West to East, aud apparently scarcely as
high as the clouds hoat in the atmosphere.
In many places, the strange and dazzling
visitor appeared to move SO near the earth
as to startle people, some even dodgipg its
approach. Ladies abroad were much alarm
ed in the vicinity Of Boston, and in other
localities.
Mr.. Bond, Director of the Observatory
Of Harvard College says:
The meteor on the goth inst was seen in
the following position, by two Of the assist
ants, at the Observatory Of Harvard College,
ct 10 P. M.:-Alttnde when frst seen,
lac bearing 42e West of South F.; it pass.
ed the meridian at an altitude of 10 ., bear
ing 500 East Of South The arc passed
over was about 95 Q occupying twenty
seconds in its transit. The apparent verti.
Gle diameter was one-fourth of degree
The meteor was seen at sea off Barnegat
light, at 45 minutes past P. M. Capt
Feinhegan, of the barque Seneca, of Balti-
more, says he observed meteor rise, with
o tremedous motion, in the northwest, about
100 from the horizon, out of dark cloud :;
said meteor rising 10 the form of globe,
and as it assended increased in size until it
was about seventy degrees high, when it
broke out into the form of comet, with a
tail about three degrees in length. In this
form it described an arc in the heavens of
over ninety degrees and in falling exploded
into three small globes, making southeast
course, and barely clearing the vessel. First
appearance was about the size of full moon. .
aud expanded into double that size. The
time it took to describe the arc was about
thirty seconds
Professor Bartlett, of West Point Acade-
my, had peculiarly favorable opportunities
for observerng the meteor. He states that
'it moved east apparently very slow its
motion resembling that Of FIRE balloon pro,
PEELED by the burning Of feeble rocket
composition. AT nearly equal intervals it
threw off masses of burning matter, which
Immediately took the shape and velocity of
the principal body, with however, greatly
diminished luminosity the whole suggest
Ing the idea of parent followed by nu-
merous progeny, dottng her path through
the heavens. Just before it disappeared,
the principle mass divided into two nearly
equal portions. The color, which was in.
tensly bright, was at first blue and then
white, which at the close took tiuge of
yellow. The altitude seemed not greater
than that attained by ordinary signal rock
cts. 1t lasted about one minute and quar-.
ter 1t must have had great altitude, from
the slowness of its apparent motion"
Meteors are usually most frequent about
| -'SS W AuSuSb Ol NO
vember. One theory of astronomers in re-
gard to this fact is, that the path of the
earth at these times traverses region of
space containing moving bodies, which take
fre on coming in contact with our atmos.
phere. Professor BartIetts theory for the
explanation of these phenomena is as TO-.
| lowsi
''These bodies are of the nature of planets.
and circulate about the sun in orbits as nm.
erringly as their larger brethren. When
they and the earth come simultaneously TO
these points of their orbits which are near.
est together. the action of the earth often
becomes superior to that of the sun, and the
small masses are drawn to its surface
Plnnging with enormous velocity into our
atmosphere, these little bodies compress the
air in front and rub against it with such
violence on the sides, as to produce heat
enough TO fuse, and light sufficient to ium-
mate the most refractory and darkest of
substances. The exterior and molten crust
| is swept to the rear nv the resistino dir a