The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-11-20

mote point from which all the meteors seem to be
traveiling-the point toward which all the parallel
converge. No meteor then. approaching the earth
on the course thus indicated could possibly 20
move actually from the radiant point. II moving
directly toward the observer It would be visi.
BILE at the radiant point all the time. not
directly toward the observer. but a course
parallel to that from the radiant point to the
the end Of its fight. at points removed from tho
radiant, but all ON line tending from it, Thus the
actual path pursued by meteor may be on one side
other precisely as any particular yard of set OF
parallel railway lines and telegraph wires may be to
the right to the left. or above or below, or
may be behind observer. while the point from
which all these lines converge is in front of him.
hoe. unless absolutely coincidept. to show tho
radiant point belonging to them. assuming. OF
course. that they belong to the same system And
tenn the radiant point of the system. which
indicates the direction from which with respect to
rately determined. In this way each meteor system
is perfectly distnguishable from all Others; and
also the position of the radiant point of sys-
tenn, the question whether the meteors are OF are
not bodies following in the track of any known
comet can be ut once set at rest The path OF such
The apparent path resulting from the combination
Of their motions with the motions of the earth eau
be equally well determined. This gives the RAJ
diant point Of such bodies, II such bodies there are,
as they appear in shooting star displays in skies.
No scattered meteors still less any meteor shower.
can be mistaken for attendants on such a comet
at least if we set aside the bare possibility TOR
such it s) that bodies really travelling in
different course may appear to travel on
the course. This can happen. but 1t
is so exceedingly unlikely that II meteor
diant point corresponding to the attendants of par
tcular comet, 1t may be confidently assumed that
they really such attendants.
DISPLAY OF 1872 s.
In 1872. Bielas comet itself having been Searched
for frutlessly. several astronomers called attention
to the circumstance that in the last week Of Noven-
Der the earth might be expected to pass through
train Of meteors following in the track OF the now
disintegrated comet They showed also how Biela
meteors. if such existed. could be distinguished
from other shooting stars; the radiant point COR
responding to attendants on Bielas comet lying in
the region where the constellation Andromeda
borders on Cassiopeia the feet OF the former Of
these celestial bodies. myself wrote in the follow,
which appeared in the st. Paul's Magazine for
November. 1S72:-"There will probably be display
At any rate the skies should DO carefully watched.
The shower of meteors should one occur will fall in
looked for at any hour Of the night Those Selopr
ing to Biea's comet could be very readily distin-
guished from others. because their tracks would
seem to radiate from the constellation Cassiopoia.
So that should any one observe, any night be-
tween November 25 and December S. shoot
the satisfaction Of knowing that in all probability
he has seen fragment or portion Of comet which
has divided into two. IL not three distinct comets
and has followed up that process of dissipation By
dissoiving altogether away. The prediction thus
1879. there was display Of shooting stars second
only in magniacence among those seen since the
middle Of the present century to the shower OBJ
served in the early morning hours OF November IA.
1866. In numbers. indeed. the shooting stars Of
November 1872, fully equalled If they did not ex.
lessor Grant of the Glasgow Observatory counted no
fewer than TO- 579 meteors between half Ave p NJ
and ten nb IL ted M Tonr N
four quarters of the heavens between the four
dinal points. counted in six and half hours 3400
were seen between seven and nine p NJ. Between Ave
minutes to seven and four minutes to seven the
whole of the sky around the radiant of the system
seemed to be occupied by meteoric clond. This
region lay, as predicted near the feet of Androm-
eda. There renamed no doubt that the earth on
the night of November ~ had crossed stream Of
meteorites following in the track of Bielss
PoGsoN's CLoUDLIKE DIRECTS
But now followed what gave rise to con-
siderable Misrepresentation, by which it would
that even some mathematicians Of
astronomer Klinkerfues. telegraphed to Pogsoh the
government observer ut Madras, "Biela touched
earth November q, look fol- it near Theta Centauri
meaning. doubtless. what was in reality the case,
that the earth had passed through the meteorio
train OF Bela and that it might be worth while to
heavens directly opposite the point from which
the meteors had seemed to arrive. whether
Klinkerfues meant this. whether. as some seem
comet might have been delayed ten or, twelve
weeks. and so have certainly sncounteted tho
earth on November ~. need not for the
moment be considered Suffice it that Pogson ex-
amined the heavens in the region indicated, and
s.
1872 detected two cloud-like objects. These he
again on the morning Of December 8, by which
time their position on the star-vauit had changed.
that 1t was clear they were not nebul@ or star
clouds, but veriable attendants the sun. though
whether comets meteor flights was not clearly
made out. 1t was however, clearly shown
that neither of these objects could possibly have
been the meteor flight crossed by the earth ON
the night OF November ~. 1872 1t was equally GER
tain that neither the meteor flight nor these two
cometic objects could have been Biela's comet ~
self-though all three travelling IN such
that they might be called attendants of that
body. There for the time the history Of Bielas
comet has closed. Nothing more has been of
scattered meteors travelling in its train
toward the end of November, 1877, and more would
probably have been at the part of last year
the skies then mad not becn overloaded in nearly
all European countries.
A FINE DISPLAY PROBABLE.
The next passage Of the earth athwart the track OF
the comet Is the first since that of November ~,
1872, during which q meteor shower could be
track. passed very to it, carly in April lasts
and though the interval 10 considerably longer be-
tween then ana the end OF November than elapsed
between the comets passage In 1872 and the display
OF that yet It is most probable that many mete
ORIG attendants of the comet will be seen some
nights Tor perhaps on several nights between No
vember rs and December I, and quite possible that
q very fine shower may be seen. The mcteors. will
be we'll worth looking for In any case since, they
are carefully observed and counted hour by hour.
astronomers will probably obtain some further In
sight into the nature of the processes which lead to
the dissipation Of comet and cause its path to be
occupied over range OF many millions OF miles by
scattered meteoric attendants. To others than
astronomers the meteors will be full of interest;
and it 10 not Mt all unlikely that they will appear In
such numbers ~ to produce an exceedingly beAuti-
tut display.
nETERMINEn M IRE