Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1883-12-21
A Swarm Of Meteors.
remarkable observation was made


| by Prof. Brooks, an industrious astron-
omer ofWestern New York, on Wednes-
day evening. While searching with his
telescope for comets, ne saw what he
describes as shower of telescopic
meteors .'near the sum- 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
the sun had already set at the time, and
if what Prof. Brooks saw was really n
meteor swarm, the metcors must have
| been in the upper regions of our atmos-
phere. Supposed flights of meteors
seen through telescopes have OCCASION
ally turned out to be locks of birds, but
an Observer as careful and experienced
as Prof. Brooks seems to be would
not be likely to make such q mistake
rs that. Assuming then, that he real
ly did see an extraordinary swarm of
meteors, and remembering that mete-
ors large enough to be visible without
telescopes, and some of great size and
brillianoy, have recently been unusually
numerous, the suggestion that the red
light seen in the sky for several even
ings past long after sunset may he
caused by reelection from clouds of
meteoric dust in the upper portion of
the, atmosphere is not unnatural
| There are several reasons for thinking
that the strange light is the result of
| some such cause as the presence of
mcteoric dust rather than of differences
of density in the atmosphere leading to
extraordinary reflection. In the first
| place, the phenomenon has not only
been visible over an immense extent of
territory but it has lasted several days,
and has been seen in the east before
sunrise rs well rs in the west after sum
set, so that any abnormal refraction in
the atmosphere would have to be of
most incredible persistence in order to
account Tor the observed appearances.
Besides, during this time there have
been considerable atmospheric changes,
especially in respect to temperature.
These remarkable sunset displays have
also been accompanied by notably
hazy appearance of the sky. Fstt.
! 1t is well known that the earth is
daily and nightly peltcd with millions
are almost instantly consumed by the
into our atmosphere. The products O
the combustion of these meteors tiltel
slowly down through the air, and have
been found in the shape of metallic dus
on the snow-felds in the Arctic regions
on mountain peaks in Europe, and il
other similar localities, being recognized
by their peculiar chemical composition
II is also well known that the solar sys
TEN abounds with swarms of meteor:
revolving around the sun, and that thu
earth crosses the pathsIof a number o
these, occasionally encountering tn,
swarms themselves. The vast ma;oritN
of these mcteors are very small, thos,
that are seen weighing on an averag,
probably only few grains; and sine,
the telescope reveals millions which
escape the naked eye, it is reasonable t
conclude that millions more are too
small to be seen even with telescopes
mere meteoric dust. There are histori,
instances of supposed falls Of meteori,
dust, the most remarkable, perhaps, he
ing that of 1873, when Europe, part o
Asia, and part of North America wer,
covered for months with dry fog, o.
haze, which excited the greatest alarm
Prof. Brooks suggestion that the eartl
has encountered a cloud of meteori'
dust is not, therefore, without founda
ton in probability. If the recent blaz
ing sunsets have really resulted from
such cause, they are likely to con
tinue, in a modified form, for SOM
time, gradually disappearing as tn
dust sinks lower in the atmosphere
But, although so many reasons can b
advanced which give probability to tn
theory that meteoric dust is concerned
in the production of these strange sun
set effects. yet it can not be considere
as proved, and some better explanatio
may be offered. Whatever the true eA
, PLANTATION may turn out to be, however
} everybody seems TO agree in the opir
ion that the red glare in the west dun
ing the last three or four evenings ha
, been one Of the most singular spectacle
beheld in the sky for many years.-A
San,