Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1874-07-22

of Brussels found that shooting stars are
to be seen in unusual numbers about the
10th of August of each year A few
months afterward Mr.. Herrick made ln
dependently the same discovery; but he
also told us of star-showers in April and
in January. What Brandes had seen in
December, 1913, led Mr.. Herrick, more.
over a like shower in other Decembers
and he asked that shooting stars he look ed
for on the 9th and 7th of December 1898,
This shrewd guess was justified, for on the
evenings Of those days hundreds Of these
meteors were seen iu America, in Europe,
and in Asia by persons thus induced to
look for them. These shooting stars also
had once been parts of Biclas comet,
though this fact was not dreamed of at
that time.
In the course of time we came to know
more about the meteriods; that in gener-
al they moved in long orbits like comets,
rather than round ones like planets; that
some Of them were grouped in long, thin
streams, many hundreds of millions Of
miles long and that it was by the earth's
plunging through these that We have star
showers that the space travelled over by
the earth has in it everywhere some Of these
small bodies. probably the outlying men,
bcrs of hundreds Of meteorid streams.
Also the periodic time and the path Of
the stream Of November meteorods, Law
the path Of two comets. Then DR.. Weiss
of Vienna showed that the meteors seen
by Brades in 1898, and by Herlick il
1888, as well as many meteors seen neal
Dec. l Of other years, and the Biela
comets all belonged to each other. 1t
then properly part of my plan show
JOu 'ho pCuaNlOl VI uuc VI lue blFedlIS
Of meteroids. Standing several hundreds
Of miles away, sec them enter the several
hundreds Of miles away. See them enter
the upper atmosphere, They are entirely
unseen until they strike the air. They
then come down like drops of fiery rain q
few miles, in parallel lines, burning W
long before they reach the ground. The
air is in fact shield, protecting TIE mor
below from bombardment. The region o.
the luminous tracks is many times above
that Of the highest mountains. '.''
Go further away. PareIel lines may
show the paths Of the meteoroids, though
the bodies themselves are too small to be
seen. They strike little way into the
air, to some persons coming from the ze
NTH. to some coming obliquely, to some
skimming through the upper alr--and un,
seen by all upon one whole hemisphere
| need hardly remind you that sunlight
and twilight, and clouds often come IN tc
prevent the seeing Of the star-hights by
persons below. 8gs
Go still further away. From outside
look il coward the sun from the earth and
meteoroid stream. The mcteoroidB in fact
are not to be seen.
The stream is of unknown depth, per-
haps millions of miles deep. Its density
increases in general toward the center
We cross the densest part Of the Novem.
Der stream in two or three hours, and the
whole of it in 10 or Is hours, while the
passage of the August stream requires
three or four days. The Bisla stream is
crossed obliquely, the meteoroids overtak-
ing the earth. The August stream is
nearly perpendicular, and the November
stream meets the earth.
Again go still further away, out to the
point from which we first looked down up
on the earth aud comet. We then see(by
the minds eye) the meteorods strewu
along the elliptic orbit Of the comet for
hundreds of millions of miles, forming a
stream of unknown breadth, but in the
scale of the first figure shown you, about
so of an inch in thickness. selsr
Come back now and stand inside the
stream, at its densest part. You in fact
sec nothing but the meteoroid are all
about you scattered quite evenly, and dis
tant each from its neighbors 20 or 80
miles. They all travel the same say and
with common motion.
Once more change your place and look
up from the earth's surface, The mete-
oroids can now be seen, for when they
strike the air they burn with intense
light, becoming shooting stars. Asst is
from this position only that we ever see
them, note their behavior with more care.
A shooting star coming toward you ap-
pears only as a bright stationary point IN
the sky. That point is marked one in
every star shower, and is called the radi.
ant. The meteors to the right and left of
the stationary one are, in fact, moving in
the common direction, but they seem to
move in the sky away from the radiant.
10 other words, the tracks produced back
ward will Eli meet In one noint In the SIX v