Morning journal and courier., 1881-02-17
SornaI a1la Gelrier.
Thursday Morning, Feb. 17. 1881.
A"Wandering A Meteor" !"

Remarkable Occurrence Witnessed in
 Newark, N. .J.,-AJsO in New Haven-A
 Marvel i'm the Heavens.
 I'm. following is from the New York Her a1d, Feb 18th, and the appended letter is from well known and prominent New Haven gentleman A notable coincidence is related
 Being informed that Mir. John P. Nessle, of No. 23 Frelinghuysen avenue, Newark, had observed last New Year day wandering meteor'' under remarkable circumstances, a Herald reporter visited that gentleman, who lives on his means He makes no preten- sions to meteorological knowledge, but con fesses to having great liking for observ- ing the wonders of the heavens. Touching what he had witnessed on New Years day he said :-
 STATEMENT OF MR. MISSILE.
 sJust after the clock had struck six in the evening of New Years day, having become tired of reading, stepped to the window of my bedroom looking southeast, the sky be- ing clear. My attention was attracted to what I supposed to be at the time red toy balloon at an elevation of about forty five degrees, when observing that it be- gan to grow brighter and brighter every in- stant, it flashed to my mind that it was meteor and necessarily coming straight l toward me, because it's flight was apparently so very slow to the northwest. It increased | in size and brightness till it seemed brighter and larger than Venus, and then sparks be- gan to trail behind it, little to it's right, but apparently about four or five inches in length only. This continued till the body dissolved, | which it did without any explosion. From \ this it was apparent to me that had it remain | ed unconsumed it would have struck within a hundred yards to my right, and, in fact, | when it went out was on the point of dodg- | ing to the left, aside of the window, thinking | it might possibly strike or explode near me- | Now it seems to me that this wandering me- | teor furnishes astronomers and all scientific | men some data for estimating the height of l our atmosphere for, allowing forty-fVe miles per second as the speed of the me- | teor when it came in contact with the air, and one second for it to become heated suf- | ficiently to make it glow to the dull red color ! when first observed, and four seconds at
 least while under observation, we have five
 seconds travel in the air to where it ceased, and, making allowance for the slant, the \ earth's atmosphere must be about two hun | dred miles high instead of the old and con-
 mon estimate of thirty-fye or forty miles. '' | NEW HAVEN, Feb. 15. | The beautiful little meteor mentioned | above, seen at Newark, N. J., at o'clock on
 the evening of New Years day, was also seen ! here at the same time and at the same height
 above the horizon-45 degrees-and was
 visible just as long. The writer was looking
 directly at that point of the eastern sky where
 it first came into view. Appearing as bright
 little star, it's brilliancy increased every mo
 ment as it entered the eartf's atmosphere
 It moved apparently so slowly the observer
 could note it's gradual taking the meteor like
 ness, increasing in size and brightness, show
 ing short train and throwing of sparks O
 light till it disappeared about 20 degrees iron
 the starting point. The sight was beautiful
 novel and fascinating. The impression lief
 on the mind will not soon be forgotten. I
 was cold, clear night. No one was near a
 the time, and there was no noise on tn
 street. The description given by MT. N., o
 Newark, accords precisely with the observa
 ton here, only that the direction of it
 course was from east by north to southwes
 by vBst. Not having seen any other accoun
 of the above, this may be worth printing a 1 @ record for this place. G. s.