Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1879-08-09

As the period OF the year has arrived
when an unusual display Of meteors
may be expected. something Of their ma
ture, their distance from the earth. We
locity. incandescsnce. etc.. may not DO
without interest.
Astronomers have Of late years como
to the conclusion that msteors as sesn
by US are phenomena Of q OWE atmos.
phsrs. and a. the atmosphere extends to
a distance Of l50 miles from the earth.
butfsw Of those bodies actually In exis.
tenos are observable with the naked
eve. This number has been put down
Al an average Of thirty o night where
watch and observations are made ex.
press,y to number them at any one
point. The telescope multpliss this
number about fifty times. Astronomers
tell ~ that NO less than 300. 600, 900 Of
these come within our atmosphere daily,
Of which 1900. 900 are large enough to
be seen BY the naked eye on . clear,
dark night.
BY simultaneous observations at dit.
ierent stations the altitude OF the aver.
ago meteor has been discovered to be
about sixty miles, some even coming
down to twenty miles, and occasionally
| one comes 10 near as to strike the earth
N a meteorio stone. Their velocity II
from thirty to atty miles per second.
These bodies are foreign to our sys.
tenn and como plunsinR into q atmo..
| phere, where the resistance offered by 1t
to their rapid flight raises them to such
q temperature a. 10 FIRST melt and then
dissipats them into vapor, the exception
being the case whore the stone reaches
the earth. They are generally mere
yspor before getting within many miles
Of us. The only wonder 10 that they do
not emit . greater aood OF light than
they do.
Observation has taught us that show.
srs Of these meteors are seen once each
year, the earth passing regularly INTO .
stream Of them every 9th, 10th and llth
of August. Besides this, there Ia the
great November shower, which occurs
once In every 33H years. Thus 1t will
b ssen that besides those which dash
upon m at intervals. there are regular
streams Of these bodies going 10 one de
rection, and at stated intervals oil time.
In Q preceding paragraph the average
| speed OF the meteor Ia laid down at not
less than thirty miles per second. The
sarth has slso a motion OF nineteen miles
per second, very nearly In q direction
opposite to that whence come the mo
tsors; hence the velocity OF the approach
| Of the earth and meteor Ia about forty.
six miles DER second-a little less than
the sum OF the two velocides. II these
facts are borne in mind. 1t will greatly
increase the interest excited by these
wanderers on their present visit.
Whence these bodies which 80 NIL
space and 90 streaming about are de-
| rived, and how thay come to be so plen.
tful In space, are matters OF conjecture
merely. Still the s~pectroscope has
helped the learned to a theory, by show.
Ing during observations at the times OF
sun eclipsss. that there are violent out.
bursts upon the sun ; and as the fhxed
stars are Suns Of other systems similar
10 our own, doubtless there are similar
| outbursts from them. These outbursts
arc 20 fierce a. to carry matter from
these suns into outer space. This mat.
ter may DO no more than gas or vapor;
still Il 10 condensable into meteorites.
Il has OF late been copjectured that the
mysterious zodiscal light which attends
the sun IL due to countless hordes OF
hess mstsors flying In all directions
through the space which lies within the
| ssrth's orbit.