The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-01-20
A Remarkable Meteor.


On the 21st day of last December
comet of the first magnitude passed owe
the Western states: and excited mucl
comment. 1t was in fact an absorbn!
sensation. An Illinois correspondent
of the Country Gentleman thus describe
the phenomenon. Among or near the ze
NTH points of the metcor's track in Hi
nois, were the cities ofQuincy in Adam
county, Havana in Mason county, Bloom
ington in McLeon county, and Gilman
in lroquois county-its course having
been from west southwest to cas-
northeast, with bend toward th,
north. This calculation makes the spo
where | saw it in Champaign count,
about forty-fve miles southcastcrly o
the zenith point, some twenty mile,
west of Gilman. | was so uniortunat,
as not TO see the awful stranger unit
after ii had passed the meridian, and
shorn of much of its splcndor, was NOV
ing at an inclination of about 10 deg
down the heavens toward the eastern
horizon, where it disappeared about Il
deg. above the skyline, in manner
which offered the instant suggestion o
the rear signal lights of a night trail
disappearing in tunnel.
But let me relate the circumstance
under which | first saw the attending
phenomena and then the meteor itself
L was sitting in small room. having
windows with thin white curtains drawn
facing east and south, reading by {
bright light, when my attention was at
tracted by an unusual light outside. and
a light which bathed everything
abroad in mass ofpale-green. just as
| had comprchendcd this fact. from the
next room Of which the door was open
and having the windows looking west,
lady seeing the meteor blazing and
bursting through the trees. called mc to
come quickly, and hurried TO the piazza
on the east side of the house. follow
ed Instantly, reaching the piazza and
looking north just in time TO see the
meteor swim past the projecting caves
of the roof on the house, causing train
of inconsiderable lightness 25 or 80 dec.
long and attended by half dozen or So
globed satellites of yellow fire. The me
teor, as | saw il bodily, was in sight
perhaps ten seconds, when il disappear
ed as above described. We were on
the piazza perhaps thirty seconds. and
then went in and gathered about the fire
Otherc were three of us), indulginp
Ill the usual expressions of wonder and
admiration, when in three or four min
utes there arose low, long, rumblino
sound, at first like distant thunder: then.
increasing i'll loudncss and harshness. il
swelled so As to resemble a heavy
railroad train crossing q bridge at
full speed. and exploding. as il
moved, small torpedOes every two or
three seconds. At the middle of this
exhibition. and for four or five seconds.
while the sounds were loudcst and
harshest, the earth treinbled. the stone
foundations of the house were shaken.
lhe doors Jared and the windows rat
tiled. AS the sounds began and incrcas-
ed till the climax was reached. so they
ended, and i'll the course of thirty sec
onds all was quiet. The night was a
very still one, partially cloudy in the
west and around to the northeast, with
dim starlight overhead. The mercury
stood little above the freezing point.
the air seemed to be saturated with
ing iraiiliroad trains were heard a, Ion, long
distances.
According to the best accounts can
find, the meteor was visible for only
about thirty seconds ut any one place in
Illinois. Ii was brightest here. and
showed the most startling phases of eX-
plosion and corllscation while sweeping
up the sky between 30 degrees from the
western horizon and the zcnith-that is.
while passing over Western Illinois and
Eastern Missouri. append Prof. Col
bert's brief account of the known facts
in the celestial visitation.
''Fr6m a comparison Of the crude
descriptions given, we conclude that
the following is an approximate state
ment of the path pursued by the meteor
while visible: From some point south
west by west of Lawrence, Kas., to
Miami county, on the eastern border of
that state; across Missouri. from Cass
to Marion counties; across Illinois. from
Adams to IroQuois counties: across In
diana, from the southern portion of
Newton county to Fort Wayne (Allen
county,, from there across Ohio TO the
southern point of Lake Erie, and over
the northwestern corner ofPcnnsylvania
into New York State, The distance
was nearly one thousand miles: the
time at Chicago about Sh. Som. p. NJ, of
Dec. 81, 1876; the height above the
earth's surface some seventy-five miles
when over Kansas, to forty mics when
over Ohio
To me the most striking circumstance
in this meteoric display were, first, the
green light which shonc from the mete-
or and lasted not more than seven or
eight seconds, and had entirely gone
before reached the piazza, giving place
to pale orange one; and, second, the
length of time which elapsed between
the disappearance of the meteor and the
| first audible sounds created by its pass
age through the regions of the air
| What substance or metal was il that by
burning produced the unusual color,and
how far off was from the track of The
flying world, and the explosions. sup
posing they were five minutes reaching
me? Its height, Mr.. Colbert ys.whei
passing over Illinois, was not far from
fifty miles, and its zenith point forty
five miles northwestcrly of where
write. Assuming these distances to b,
approximately correct, how far in
right line was ! from the track of tn,
meteor, and how long should sount
be travelling that distance?
A VnunU Eronchmon who xuoc nucl