The Shasta courier., 1868-01-11
Interesting Facts About Meteors.


18th, has the following in relation to meteoric
| showers
| The display of meteors which is expected
to take place Tonight presents suitable
| opportunity for giving some of the results of
| observations which have already been made
on shooting stars, meteors, and erolites
careful observer will, if he takes the trouble,
see about fifteen shooting stars appear
above the horizon of any place during each
hour, those seen in the tropics shining more
brilliantly than those in northern climates
fhey vary in color from fiery red to blue
and orange, while in our climate about two.
thirds of them are white. Meteors or fire
balls are far less common than shooting
stars, and their brilliancy often exceeds that
of the full moon. They are generally fol-
lowed by a luminous train, and their form
changes visibly before they disappear
Meteors which move impulsivey generally
burst at each bound and in some instances
the crash of the explosion is so great that
houses tremble as if shaken by an earth
quake. LEroltes, or metoric stones are
among the bodies which fall from the sky,
but are less common than meteors they
vary in size from mans fist to several
cubic feet, weighing sometimes many hun
dreds of pounds Marshal Bazaine has
found and taken to Europe q meteorite
weighing more than three quarters of ton
the British Museum possesses one weighing
no less than 81 tons, found near Melbourne
The largest meteorite know lies on the plain
of Tucuman, in South America. and is es-
timated at fourteen or fifteen tons of weight,
and is from seven to eight feet in length.
The Chinese give the most ancient records
of stone falls, their accounts of shooting
stars extending to 687 3. G. According to
a MonGoIian tradition, II black, rocky mass
forty feet high, fell from heaven upon plain
in Western China
The falling Of stones and mineral masses
from the sky was not believed without ques
tion until in 1903 fory globe was seen to
burst into fragments nearly over the town of
LAigle, IN Normandy; tbe@=ands Of stones
being scattered over an eaiptic,.l area seven
or eight miles long and ..oout fou' luiles
broad the stones were hot and smSk NJ,
and the heaviest weighed about seven cen
and half pounds. Another very remark
ment OF Yonne. \ globe OF fire, travelling
rapidly through the air, was seen, accom-.
panied by several explosions and strong at
mospheric Disturbances man narrowly
escaped being struck by a fragment of a
stone, which was found buried deep in the
earth. dGrolites often fall from clear sky,
although dark cloud is generally observed
around them. Something seems to depend
on the position of the observer; thus
meteor seen from one place wholly free from
cloud or smoke would in another place
present itself in dark cloud forming sud.
denly in a clear sky. The length of time
during which ire.bals which produce ero-
lites are visible has been variously estimated.
Another curious circumstance connected with
shooting stars is that they are said to fall on
certain occasions in much greater numbers
than on ordinary nights The fall at Con.
stantinople, for instance, of many stars in
9O2 was put in connection with the death of
King Ibrahim Ben Ahmed, which took place
on the night of the star shower. Another
shower took place over England and France
in 1898, which was considered by many as Il
token of Gods displeasure with King Will
liam III.
In regard to the theory for explaining the
observed phenomena, the opinions and
glesses of individuals and nations naturally
differ. The Greeks favored the view that
shooting stars are generated by yapors as
cending from tie earth-an hypothesis sus-
tained quite recently by modern philosophers;
others again conceived the notion that tile
meteorites were projected to us from the sun,
as they saw them fall in full sunlight Ia
the middle ages the phenomena presented by
shooting stars were explained in not very
satisfactory manner. and the ingenious
Kepier even. who helped in laying the foun-
dation of modern astronomy, yielded to the
old idea that these erratic, short lived bodies
moving across the skies, could nn. belong
to the family Of planets. Frsm the results
of observations, made by astronomers like
Brandes, lleis, Schmidt, Slbers, and others
in regard to the ngnt Of shooting stars,
Professor Newton and Mr.. Herschel have
/ calculated that shooting stars appear on an
| average at q height of seventy two miles and
disappear at hight of fifty two miles, 1t
has also been observed that shooting stors
describe visible are, many miles in length,
with an average velocity Of about thirty four
miles per second. Meteors approach nearer
to the earth than shooting stars, and do not
move quite SO rapidly. and although it is
difficult to determine their actual size. these
bodies seem to vary in diameter from one
hundred to thirteen thousand feet. Close
observations have shown that these bodies
are generally gaseous during their appari
ton.
One of the most remarkable facts is tie
recurrence of star showers, of greater or less
intensity, Oh certain days of the year. 1t
was. forinstance, observed long ago that on
the nights of August 9th and llth stars fell
in much greater numbers than usual. The
experience about the great November showers
Is of more recent date, but it is believed
that 1867 Will turn out to be the true year of
maximum intensity and that the fire show
ers will lie seen during the years 1868 and
1869. The analysis made Of erolites shows
that they are combined Of metallic iron,
magnetic iron, oxide Of tin, slicates, Divine,
etc. The result of series of observations
shows the suggested atmospheric origin to
be an erroneous theory, for the air at
hight of seventy miles above the earth is be-
lieved to be of extreme tenuity, and there
fore incapable of supporting those vapors
from which shooting stars, on this theory,
are assumed to be generated. The theory
that shooting stars are bodies which have
been projected from volcanoes on the earth,
and the other that they have come from vol
canoes on the moon, have both been over
thrown by the results OF modern observation.
There is reason for the supposition that
there are zones and clusters Of such bodies
travelling rouud the sun. in orbits which in
tersect the earth's path. When. in her
course around the sun. she encounters auv
of the bodies forming such zones and clusters
they arc ignitcd by friction as they pass