Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1868-11-21
rROsr WASHINGTON.
REcteoric shovvers---Oaac,ni tsePors
Of the Superintendent OF tne N"'-
mi observatory at washington.

vEcseor,c cshoxyers--.pHacinl Report
of the SUPERINTENDENT OF the Nav-
mi observatory at Wnshtnstcn.
Fo,,ovipo is the official report from Com
modore sands. Superintendent OF the Naval
Observatory, in regard to the recent meteoric
shower, received nt the Navy Department
last Saturday;
u. 8. NAVAL OBSERVATORY, WASHINGTON,
Nov. IA, 1s6S.-SIR IL have the honor to
submit the following preliminary report of
the meteoric shower of this morning. Dur
ing the evening of the 18th inst, there were
no greater number OF meteors to be seen than
are usually observed on clear nights until
about eleven o'clock, when there seemed to
be an increase in numbers and brilliancy,
though not sufficient to indicate the begin.
ming Of shower. AT midnight the number
had considerably increased, and the preva.
lence of trains was generally noted.
At tbirty.tive minutes past midnight Pro.
fessor Eastman, and Messrs. Harrison, Frisby
and Hays, began to count meteors and to
plot the tracks of the principal ones that
appeared in that portion of the heavens
covered by the star chart constructed at the
Observatory in 1867. At one hour and
thirty-fve minutes A. NJ, 800 meteors had
been counted, most quite brilliant, and nearly
all of them leaving green, blue or red trains.
Thus far the display had not been confined
to any portion of the sky, but most Of them
were in the northern and southern heavens,
and scarcely any in opposition to the place
in the star chart. Many of the trains were
visible several minutes. One lasted ten
minutes, and the track of one near Ursa
Minor was seen thirty minutes after the ap-
pearance of the meteor
| After one hour and City minutes Professor
Eastman, assisted by Mr.. Harrison, devoted
his time to mapping and noting the time of
apparition of the principal meteors, and sue.
ceeded in sketching tracks of about co.
During one hour and forty minutes 400 had
been counted, and afterwards the successive
hundreds were observed in the following
intervals. (The intervals are here given by
Commodore Sands) The observations were
continued until after six o'clock in the morn
ing, at which time there had been counted
five thousand and seventy eight
AT two hours and twenty minutes a. NJ
Professor Mores and son joined the party of
observation, and assisted in counting me.
teors in the western heavens. During the
whole display there were many meteors seen
in the west, but from four o'clock till five
the numbers were about equal in the cas-,
and west The time of maximum frequency
was about five hours, when they fell at the
rate of about two thousand per hour. The
radiant point was quite well defined during
the latter end of the shower, and found by
estimation to be about one hundred ano
forty-nine degrees in right ascension anc
twenty-five minutes thirty seconds in de
clination.
The trains were unusually brilliant, pre-
senting the various green, blue, orange anC
red, &C., remained visible for an unusua
time, frequently as many s5 five could b,
seen at once presenting an appearance whcl
nearly dissipated Of light cirrus clouds
The shower commenced several hours befo-
it was expected, as it was predicted last yea
it would be seen in 1868 in the Pacific oceai
only. A number of star charts were dis
tributed a few days ago to the various Oh
servatores and Pacific men Of the country
and it is likely many valuable observation
have been made, of which We shall sool
learn.
Very respectfully, your obd't servant,
B. F. SANDS, Superintendent.
A dispatch from San Francisco says, ther
was an extraordinary meteoric shower las
night, commencing about 1890 p. NJ. ant
lasting till an early hour this morning Th
display at p. N. rivaled in splendor that c
November IA, 1867.
Several meteors left trails of light distir
guishable for many seconds. Their genera
direction appeared to be from east to wes
Dispatches from Hartford, Poughkeepsit
Fortress Monroe and Richmond mentio
brilliant meteoric displays during FriGa
night.
The number of meteors seen at New Yorl
Monday night, exceeds two thousand tiv
hundred by actual count.