Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1876-07-20
THE METEOR.
0ur Celestial Visitor of Saturday Eye-
.au !s ming, JuIy Sth. flsw sFr


urday evening, July 9Th, was OBJ
served by persons in several different
places, who have sent in accounts of
the, phenomenon. Some Of these re-
ports give the course of the stranger
yisitant with considerable accuracy,
and others only vaguely Enough
has been gathered from the compar-
ison to enable US to trace its actual
path in the heavens with reference
to the earth. sufficiently near to OBJ
tain n clew to the real character of
the object. a9Hs diiW no'ig e14
The Rev Robert Beer, of valpa-
raiso, Ind, writes us that It's course
was from a. point little north of
east, and about fifty five or sixty
degrees above the horizon, in a di-
lection little north of west, and for
a distance of about 40 degrees. A
correspondent OF the Chicago Times
reports that at. Battle Creek Mich,
it passed from the constellation Ophi-
ucus, some distance above Jupiter,
and disappeared few degrees west
of Leo. The Hon. w. HI. Wells. Mr.
A. NJ Simons, Mr.. L. G.. Fem, and
Others. saw it from Chicago, and. de-
scribe it as appearing to start from
the head of the Dolphin, about 25 de-
grees above the horizon, and a little
to the south of'east, then to pass up
wards to near Gramma in the Swan,
disappearing there, at an altitude of
about 30 degrees, a little to the north
of east. A correspondent of the 1'.i-
bt,ne at Clinton, Ia, saw It in the
east. moving nearly parallel with the
horizon; and an observer at Indian
apolis saw, it among the stars of Cas-
slope, low down, a little to- the east
OF north. SAVING bas 3.figg Hl g3ils2
~ A comparison of these conditions,
which vary according to the place OF
the observer, enables us to estimate,
roughly. that the object passed across
the United States on a line which
passes nearly through Berrien, in
Michigan, and thence across the lake
trending several degrees to the
north ofwest. Its nearest approach
to the surface of the earth was notless
than 60 nor more than 20 miles.
Several observers state that the
meteor disappeared with an
explosion, but the greater number
did not see it explode. The main
body OF the object undoubtedly pass
ed on its journey through space, but
the outer portion was probably dis
'integrated by the intense heat en-
gentlered in passing through our at
mosphere, and fell towards the
ground in fragments. 1t could
scarcely be otherwise; so that the
body exploded in reality, though not
"a the serse in which some of the OBJ
servers used the term. Miag
The meteor was a v,ry brilliant
one. It'ifghted up the sky like the
glare of a calcium light; the intensity
being several times greater than the
light OF the full moon. 1t may be
thought that taking this into the. ac-
count We may gain some idea OF the
size OF the meteor, which shed such
a powerful light from distance of
several scores OF miles. But We can
not learn much in this direction. At
obituary temperatures, and shining
only by reelected light, the object
must have been at least 40 yards I'm
diameter; because half a yard Of d.
ameter for each mile OF distance is
the least size that can be perceived
by the ordinary vision. But where
the body is self-luminous this condi-
ton does not hold good Still, max
ing allowance for the effect ofintense
illuminating power, due to very
great heat, we can scarcely conceive
il possible that the object was (is)
not at least yard in diameter, and
it may be much more than that = T"
y Our visitor is only one of the many
millions which pay us their respects
yearly. A little larger than the aver
age, inasmuch as they do not average
more than a few grains each, while
this Triton among the minnows may
contain several tons Of matter;. but
one of the class Notwithstanding.
Many of them fall to the earth aud
have thenceforward no individualex-
istence. The others haul off, after, a
parrow escape from collision with
our planet, and travel on as before.
Not so either. Take this mass as
sample or the rest. 1t was cours-
ing about the sun in an orbit of its
own Travelling at rate Of not less
stffan Is nor more than about % mites
per second, it came near the earth's
orbit at a time when the, earth was
near the point ciinterseetiqnsNisthe
two orbits. travelling in, pe4ly an
opposite direction the little wanderer
rushed into the upper regions OF the
earth's atmosphere with relative
speed of some 40 miles per second
Two sets of altered conditions were
the necessary consequence. Its flight
was impeded, and its velocity .dimin
ished by the impact, while the at
traction OF the earth drew it "down-
ward" from the path it would other
wise have pursued. A few miles
nearer to the coincidence Of path
and the earth's attraction would have
been powerful enough to absorb the
warderer to her own bosom. AS il
is, the. orbit is destroyed beyond re-
pair: the little planet being sert, of
in new direction into space, with
an altered axis of revolution, and q
different period around the sun. But
the concqssion with our atmosphere
has wrought other changes, affecting
the integrity of the mass itself, From
being a cold body, chilled ne,.rIy tc
the temperature of the interplan ta'
ry spaces, it became heated by all
friction to a temperature OF more