Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1866-09-11
THE EXPECTED SHOWER OF MErKoRs

Il mas already been stated that a shower of
'rneteors is looked for IN November next These
iheteoric showers are said by astronomers 70
|be periodical, occurring at intervals of about
E3 years. The great meteoric shower of No
MEMBER, 1ea3, Will be remembered BY MANY
readeTs of the Star. Astronomers have dem
onstTated thar the height of the November me
~ors are the same rs that of ordinary shooting
tars, or sixty miles above the surface of the
|eaTth. Meteors are defined as the brilliant
globes or masses of matter which are occa
|slonally seen moving rapidly through our al.
|nospnere and which throw of with loud ex-
floslons fragments that reach the earth, and
Ire called falling stones. meteorolites, and
herolites. We call by the same name those
hTe-balls which are usually denominated fall
| rg stars or shooting stars. Some of the as
'ronomers assume the fall of meteorolites 10 be
he same phenomena as falling stars or bo-
ioes IL Is believed that these shooting stars
pre- fragments of planets or small planets
Their appearance in unusual numbers al
given periods of time Is explained by sup-
posing that the earth crosse, while de-
Ecribing Its orbit, a sort Of ring formed of
hundreds of millions Of small bodies which
circulate around the sun with extreme ye-
|oclty- They do not fall on US, according To
! The popular designation, but we meet them i'm
space sometimes, too, a planet may burst
'and the fragments fly until they come within
| he earih's sphere of attraction, and as they
Ffy they become luminous by the rap,dity of
heir motion through the resistance of the
farth's atmosphere. Such is the double origin
pr shooting stars and meteorolites. The fall of
meteoroiite Is commonly attended with a re-
port like that of several cannon simultaneously
fhred- The force Of projection is so greaI tina,
he stone buries itself in a hole several inches
|deep, where it remains so hot that il is some
kline before il can be removed. Sometimes the
|sIons thrown in this way comes IN contact with
hard and elastic substance-stone, for in
stance; then IL describes sort Of ricochet and
mot only may fall some leagues further off, but
|may bound entirely beyond our atmosphere,
|and this so far "a TO 60 beyond the limit of the
|earth-s sphere Of attraction, and re-commence
u Night through space. Sometimes these
stones are numerous, and cover the ground
with their fragments. They are in general
'blaekish and angular, and have no analogy
with the superficial envelope of the earth, but
|are something like the rocks from the very
depths of the earth, which we see only during
volcanic eruptons.
The expounders of the NJ llerite persn,s;or
who hold TO the uncomfortable theory that the
|earth Is 10 be burnt up in the present century.
but have been obliged to postpone the dare
Several times, have now fixed upon the coming
lith of November, the date of the expected me-
|teoric shower, as the time for the great CON-
|fiagration. Others not Of the Millerita
belief have also apprehended that disaster
would befall the earth in passing through some
'of these meteoric showers. But when it is re-
|membered, as already stated, that the earth
simply passes through the space occupied by
the meteoric bodies and that not one out of
million touches the earth, most OF them shooting
beyond the earth's atmosphere, or through il,
the chances are pretty remote Of enough Of them
striking our earth TO carom IL off the track or
do il any damage. And as there is NO instance
on record where person has been killed by
the tall of a meteorolite, IL is hardly worth
while TO borrow trouble lest we NAV be hit
either individually or collectively, in the com.
Ing meteoric shower.