Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-12-28
A Swarm OF MeteOrs.

a rCmnrkable observation was male
by Prof Brooks. an industrious astron.
omer Of Western New York, ON Wednes-
day evening. While searching with his
telescope for comets, he saw what he
describes rs shower Of telescope
meicOrs NEAR the sun" This. of
course, means that they were near the
apparent place of the sun in the sky.
and not literally near To that body. for
tho sun had already set at the time. and
IL what Prof. Brooks saw was really
meteor swarm. the mcteors must have
been i'm tie upper regions of our atmoS-
phere. Supposed flights of meteOrs
seen through telescopes have occasion
ally turned out To be focks of birds. Int
nm observer ~ careful and experienced
rs Pro-. Brooks seems 10 be woull
not bc likely To- make such mistake
n that. Assuming then, that he real
ly did see an extraordinary swarm of
m"teOrs, and remembering that mete-
Ors large enough to be visible without
telescopes, and some of great size and
brilliancy. have recently been unusually
numerous, the suggestion that the red
light seen in the sky for several even
lngs past long after sunset may lie
caused Nv reflection from clouds of
mctcOric dust i'm The upper port on of
the atmosphere is not unnatural.
There arr several reasons for th hiking
that the strange light Is the result Of
some such cause rs the prcstnce of
meteOric dust rather than OF din, rences
Of density in the atnlos phere leading to
extraordinary reflection. In the first
place. the phenomenon has not ONLY
hnnn Nsfaf lIn
territory, but IL has lasted several DAYS,
and has been seen in the east before
Suuris, rs well a. i'm the west after sun
set, So that any abnormal refractiOn i'm
the atmosphere would have To be of
most incredible persistence in order to
account for the observed appearances
Besides, during is time there have
been considerable atmospheric changes,
especially in respect to temperature.
These remarkable sunset displays have
also been ACCOMPANIED by a notably
hay appearance of the sky.
IL is well known that the earth Is
daily and nightly peltcd with millions
of mcteors, the vast majority of which
are almost instantly consumed by the
intense heat developed as they dash
into our a mosphere. The products Of
the combustion Of these meteors filter
slowly down through the air, aud have
been found IN the shape Of metallic dust
on the snow-fields in the Arctic regions.
on mountain peaks in Europe, and i'm
other similar localities, being recognized
by their peculiar chemical composition.
IL h also well known that the solar sys-
tenn abounds with swarms of meteors
revolving around the sun. and that the
earth crosses the paths of n number of
these, occasionally encountoring the
swarmS themselves. The vast ma ority
OF these meteors are very small. those
that are seen weighing on an average
probably only few grains; and since
the telescope reveals millions which
escape the naked eve, Il is reasonable In
conclude that millions more are too
small to be seen even with telescopes
mere mcteoric dust. There are historic
instances OF supposed falls OF meteoric
dust, the most remarkable, perhaps, he
ing that of 1873, when Europe, part of
Asia. and part of North America were
covered Tor months with A dry fog, OF
haze. which excited the greatest alarm.
Prof. Brooks suggestion that the earth
has encountered . cloud of meteOric
Nu>t - nv. bneIclOTes WITHOUT IOunua-
ton in probability. IL the recent blaz-
ing sunsets have really resulted from
such cause. they are likely to con-
tinue, in n modified form, for some
time, gradually disappearing as the
dust sinks lower in the atmosphere.
But, although 80 many reasons can be
advanced which give probability 10 the
theory that meteoric dust is concerned
in the production Of these strange sun
set effects. yA il can not be considered
as proved, and some better explanation
may be offered. Whatever the true ex
PLANTATION may turn out to be. however,
eyorybody seems TO agree in the opin-
ion that the red glare in the west dur
ing the last three or four evenings hal
been one Of the most singular spectacles
beheld in the sky for many years--N
y San.