The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1879-11-26
METEORTC SHO WEIR THANKS
CLING NIGHT.
PROFESSOR PROCTOR PREDICTS A BRIL-
LIANT DISPLAY THE NIGHT OF NO
VENEER 9TH.

vEMBER 9TH.
Another grand pyrotecnic display of
heavenly bodies is promised to come off
on tomorrow Thursday night. This
time the calculation is made by Prof.
Proctor. and not Tice. Ia lecture on
s'The Wonders of the Heavens" oliver
ed in New York on the goth, he said
that he had recently been led to adopt
the opiniOn that some of the meteOric
stones that fall upon the earth had their
origin in the earth itself, in the youthful
volcanic period of her existence ages
ago. Since then they have swung in
orbit around the sun, and as the earth's
orbits crosses theirs, it happens that at
times some of them are called by her
attraction, and so they cease their wan
derings, and fall to rest on the bosom of
their mother On the night of Novem-
Der 9th, the lecturer said, we may ex-
pect to see a brilliant display of meteors
radiatirg from a point near the star
Gamma, in the right foot of the con-
stellation Andromeda, which is now
nearly overhead at about 10 o'clock at
night. 1t has been ascertained that
meteors follow in f1Ocks in the tracks of
comets. In 1916 Berla's comet was OBJ
| served to split in two. The two parts
each had a head and a tail, and they
rushed on side by side-nOw one appears
the brighter and now the other, until
| they disappeared. At their return, in
1852 they were yet keeping up their
swift race, but they had very much
| changed in form. In 1859 their perihe-
lion passage was too near the sun to
permit them to be observed. In 1865,
when they should have been seen again
they could not be found. They were
also missed in 1871. But it had occurred
to Alexander Herschel and to Professor
| Proctor that at the time when the earth
| crossed the path of those comets it would
be well to look out for meteOrs. Me
teors were looked for, and a very bril-.
liant display was seen OnNOYember 9th
A German astronomer was so sure that
this display was caused by the earth
meeting the fragments of the missing
comets that he telcgTaphed to an observ
er stationed in the southern hemisphere
"BieIa touched the earth NOvember27th
Look out for it in the opposite quarter
The astronomer looked in the direction
indicated, and saw patch of light, like
a clOudlet of little stars, moving rapidly
across the heavens. 1t sped on until i
disappeared. 1t had come rushing GU
of the north and disappeared in the
south Professor Proctor thinks tina
the great mass of the dissipated come
did not meet the earth, but it passed S,
close that the outlying parts of the clus
ter touched the earth. On next Thanks
giving night this swarm of flying me
teOrs will again come flying out of TIN
northern heavens, and Professor PrOcto
predicts that then there will be a bril-
liant display in the sky. 1t may no
happen, he said, because perhaps tn
meteoric cluster may have been dissipat
ed, but he felt pretty certain that Their
will be display The lecturer advise
astronomers to keep lookout for abou
week previous to the 9th instant i
that quarter of the heavens from whicI
the meteors approach, in order, if pos
sible, to detect the cluster as it rushe
end on toward the earth.