Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-08-23
A SHOWER OF METEORS.


lOg 10 the eve at little after A. w.
Oh account Of the morning light. The
: meteors were not hequent. but many
, o. them were very brilliant The ra-
diant point OF The shower was ia tie
Constellation Perseus, and auyo0e who
watched the northeastern sky for ten
minutes would be rewarded by fleet
ing bat bright celestial rocket.
Every one woo il in The habit OF
walking at Di,ht. and whose neck is
not 100 if 10 prevent sGar--lxing. has
seen W uat are popularity called shoot ag
Stars" A faint trail OF lfghs shooes
across sho.t nc OF Ihe ssv anu silent
iy disappears Sometimes. If The oe-
cassio0al ohServ.r il fortunate. he
may see mere brilliant ap-
pearante, almost like rocket.
McAe rarely stiIl. few mo-
hieu.s alter the disappeareuce Of
svch heaveulv visitor n loud erpIo-
sluu eau be heard, and sill moe rare
ly, fras ncHts Ut some tall TO the earth.
Ii l. Only within lbe las ceatUrv that
science has discovered that these are u
few "fcouniiess small masses moving
through p!anr-ary space A hundred
years ago. IL was q popular theory
that II -Dl'tes. meteors and shoof.ng
stars were tur'wn from volcanoes I'm
the maoI beng shoe so far inso space
that thrs cam within The earthfs at
I 'ac ION IL Lad ai'eady been shown
4 10y eue.nical aas lysis that Rr0litcs.
Tue ar senss which sometimes fell TO
The EARN after tue appearance of %
me,eor and Nv which people have
sometimes bcea kl.I.d, were OF e-traler-
raDeous origin. They consaiged no
chem cal eleaucG winch are not foand
In The earsn hut tin. elements were
combined d Ju.entiy. Iroa eltered
largely luto the composition Of maav
and there are several s.f0lites now in
tue Smithsonian Institute which
look Ike plecrs Of irsn ore. But the
thsory ot the Iaoar ori-.Isr of erolites
was overthrowa by la Place who
disaroved il bv ma a-he .na.icaI calculn-
ton. SiHee then il has been denon-
strated that the ndnaaer N these mete1rs
within the solar system alone j. iacaI-
culable; that they have orbits ABOUT
the sun, aud many of tnem il not ali Of
them are ia some wav c0nnee.e.l with
comets. either actually formin.. their
tail or else having identical peths.
The ooly difference between meteors
and shooting stars between me bright
lines Of light which illuminate bali
the heavens aad those faias traeeries
which are away a. 5000 ~ thew are
seen, il one Of degsee. They all have
one common cause the encounter of
the earth a. il rushes through space
with some Of the tiny eoun less bodies
in its path. WBy do the meaeors bsfa
when they strike our mosphere
Tue answer is simple enough. Mo-
tion checked causes heat That -
familiar 10 the most unscientitie person
by expe, ience. If cot bv knowledge.
that il in q result OF the fact that heat
In bat mode OF motion. A velocity
of fly metesa second. W caeeked.
will cause q rise OF tea degrees eea-
tigrade in the temperature Vow the
earth bowls along its orbit at tine rate
Of 3 900 meters o second. ANY object
in space which meets this enormous
velocity will Mt once he raised 200 900
degrees In temperature. That is. ~
will suffer this sudden change of tenn
pe. ature in theory I'm fact. however.
this heat " potential, NOT artuaL In
other words. when "a meteor meets an
atmosphere il underg0es the same re-
suits a. il il were suddenly plugged
into furnace OF the beat specified.
The rarity OF the air at its utlsrmost
bounds makes no difference Co their
potential heat, although u does make
N diFe ence IA % ae actual eHset- IT.
instead OF striking H, fed mir. N meteor
were To meet a s0lsd substatcr Iike the
ca. th ia-eIf. it would bs igs4antly dis
sipated. not haviaw time eve1 To burn.
n il does in the ais
The detonatio1 which sometimes
follows meteor II not ON explosion.
bit n coacussion of the air, IIke that
caused by lightning. and l. dee
to the enormous speed with
which the meteor rushes through the
atmosphe q. condensing u before and
leaving N vacuum behinf. When the
meteor l. very Ia.g ge. the Intense heat
caused NJ its motion Is checked merely
fuses the inter-layers ard the rest falls
10 The ground. generally broken into
pieces. however. by The violence with
which il strikes the ais The height
at which metcor- usually begin to be
| Visible has been vari0usly calculated
| The mean Of the best estimate ~ 100
miles
LAST NIGHTS SHOWER
n If
shower which recurs on the 9th or
| I0th OF August every year.
| The fact that meteorie showers
are periodic IL o comparatively new
discovery. The largest showers occur
in Novembrr about three times in %
century. Humboldt save wonderful
brilliant shower while lin the Andes.
November IL, 1879 Then I'm Novem-
bcr. 1888, there was o. wonderful show
er in this couatry, which terrified the
negroes all over the South and ED
many white people to make hurried
preparations for the Judgment Day.
These dates led Oilers to predict
another shower in 1861. IIi- predie-
ton was fulfilled. though the
shower was not confined to one
wear. but was observed I'm 1865. 1857.
1865. and for n year or two after. but
always ia November. This great
shower In due again about 1900.
The orbit Of these meteors was calcu-
Ia;ed. and found 10 be- he same me that
Of TunpeI's comet, which reached its
perihelon In January. 1866.
while the meteors followed In
November. The earth passes
through the orbit Of these November
meteors every year but the fact that
the meteoss themselves are struck but