St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1878-03-16
Shooting Stars.

The lecturer reminded bis hearers that,
besides the stars We see on clear night
and besides those the telescope makes
known, there are countless bodies NOV
ing through space which even the most
powerful telescope fails to reveal till
they come either in the orbit of the earth
or of its atmosphere. These are what
are called meteorites and shooting stars,
and it is important to distinguish clearly
between the two. They are alike lumin-
GUS from the same cause, that of friction
in passing through the atmosphere,
though but few people have ever seen
meteorite falling. The number of shoot
ing stars is infinitely greater than is
usually supposed, for observers with
telescopes often see them fash across the
field in dimensions too small to be seen
with the naked eye. We know that
shooting stars undergo combustion in
passing through our atmosphere. What
becomes of the debris? The snow of the
Alps, far away from furnaces, contains
globules of iron, and dust that as quietly
accumulated in exposed places contains
them also. tits supposed they represent
some of the debris. Though we may
grumble at our atmosphere in bad
weather, we must recollect it, at least,
does this-it burns up these bodies that
are pelting down upon us at rate one
hundred times greater than the missiles
of an eighty-one ton gun, and, but for
this burning up, they would be at any
rate awkward for us. In looking at the
knowledge accumulated with regard to
shooting stars, the first point to notice,
Professor Ball says, is that certain great
showers are periodical, and always come
from the same parts of the heavens.
According to the constellation from
which they appear to come, they are
called Lyriads, Perseids, Orionids, Leon
ids, etc. The inference from these recur-
ring periods is that the orbit of the earth
then cuts the orbit in which mass of
these is moving. With this fact of
recurrence it must be noticed that certain
comets are periodical, and from
comparison of their supposed orbits
with those of groups Of these
bodies. connection between them
is inferred, whatever may be
the origin of the comets, which
is not yet known. Meteorites, on the
contrary, are never known to come from
the direction of comet path. If
meteorite is carefully examined, it is
seen to be fragment of some rock, and
that of one closely analogous to cur
earth's volcanic rocks. If we consider
in turn the volcanic sources from which
they could have come, we see the sun
would have force enough to drive of
fragments; but it is hardly likely that
there are solid rocks there to drive off.
Jules Verne is right, Professor Ball says,
in calculating that body driven up
from the earth with force equal to six
miles second would not return. From
Ceres three miles second would be suf>
ficient. Examining all the planets in
turn, it seems improbable that the
meteorites originate from any of them.
It seems much more likely that they
were in former times Of greater volcanic
activity driven up from the earth itself,
and they again, after lapse Of ages, meet
the earth in its orbit. The theory that
they come in from unlimited space is,
Professor Bell thinks, highly improbable.
Il Professor Bells Lecture before the
London Institution.