The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1874-08-13

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Then DR.. Weiss, of Vienna, showed that the
lmeteors seen by Brandes in 1898, and by
IHerrick in 1888, as well as many meteors
seen near December OF other years, and the
Blela comets all belonged to each other.
\ 1t is then properly va part Of my story to
show you the behavior of one of the streams
of meteoroids. Standing several hundreds
of miles away, see them enter the UPPER at.
mosphere. Their are entirely unseen until
they strike the air. They then come down
like drops of frey rain few miles, In parllel
lines, burning up long before they reace the
ground. The air is in fact shield, pro-
tecting the men below from furious bonn
baidment. The region of bge ma5sg .7 's'
ae3 THE LUMINOUS TRACKS h.b-7
is many times above that of the highest
mountains. Go further away. Parahal
lines may show the paths of the, meteoroids,
though the bodies themselves are to small
to be seen. They strike little way into
the air, to some persons coming from the
zenith, to some coming obliquely, to some
sklmming through the upper air-and unseen
by all upon one whole hemisphere. I need
hardly remind you that sunlight and twi-
light and clouds often come in to prevent
1 the seeing of the star flights by persons be-
How Go still further away. From outside
look in toward the sun upon the earth and
meteoroid stream. The meteoroids, in fact.
are not to be seen. The stream is of unknown
depth, perhaps millions of miles deep. Its
density increases In general toward the cen.
ter. We cross the densest part of the Nos
| vember stream in two or three hours, and
the whole passage of the August stream
requires three or four days. The Biela
stream is crossed obliquely, the meteoroids
oyertaking the earth. The August stream is
nearly perpendicular, and the November
stream meets the earth. Again, go still
further away, out to point from which
We first looked down upon the earth and
comet. We then see (by the minds eye)1
the meteoroids strewn along the elliptic
orbit of the comet for hundreds of MIL
lions of miles, forming stream of unknown
breadth, but 10 the scale of the first figure
shown you, about SO of an inch in thick
ness. Come back now and stand inside
the stream, at its densest part. You in fact
sec nothing, but the meteoroids are all about
yor, scattered quite evenly, and distant each
from it's nearest neighbors twenty or thirty
miles. They ali travel the same way and
with common motion. Once more change
your place and look up from the earth's sur
! face. The meteoroids can now been seen,
for when they strike the air they ia f...
! BURN WITH INTENSE LIGHT,
position only that we ever see them, note
their behavior with more care. shooting
star coming toward you appears only as 8
/ bright stationary point in the sky. That
point is a marked one in every star shower,
and is called the radiant. The meteors to
the right and left ofthe stationary one are,
in fact moving in the common direction
but they seem to move in the sky away from
the radient. In other words, the tracks
produced backward will all meet in one
point in tue sky, or in the zenith, or at any
place between. It will in general rise in the
east and set in the west, like the. sun or q
star, Keeping always it's fixed place among
the stars. Need | tell you how much we
would like to have some Of these bits from
the rneteoroid stream to handle, to try with
the blow-plpe and under the microscope
perhaps thus to learn something OF their
history ? We do have something like this.
At times large meteor masses come crashing
into the air. They burn with light bright
enough to be seen over several States. Com.
ing down usually q little lower than the
shooting stars. most frequently to a height
oftwenty.fve or thirty miles, they break up
with a noise like the firing of heavy artillery
4 TO be heard over several counties. Frag-
ments scattered in every direction fall to the
ground often over alregion ten and twenty
miles in extent. 1 can show ycua several
such fragments. There are over, a, hundred
oftsem in our college cabinet, one, of which
weighs nearly ton. Between these 45 il
i 4 aA{gE sToSE-PRo DUoING METEoRs & vaa 4.
and the faintest shooting star 7 1,cannnot find
any clear line of division, We have meteors
that break with q loud defamation but no
4 fragments are seen to fall, One such was
!, seen in 1860 from Pittsburg to New. Orleans,
\ and from Charleston to st. Louis. It explo-
.lded over the boundary line of tennessee and
i Kentucky We have others which only break
linto nincps mo nnisa ha;prhoo.a nh -
have those which quietly burn out. Like
I the larger ones, these may leave smoky
Il trains that last for minutes. One such have
seen for :orty-five minutes, as it slowly floats
Led away in the current of the upper air.
4 y This, through thewhole range, from the
u meteors that give US these stones and irons
for our musems down to the faintest shoot.