The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-08-13
THE AUGUST METEoRs.
Something About the Stream of Fallin:
Stars Which All Have Heard of and Few
Have Seem

Something About the Stream of Failing
| Stars Which All Have Heard of and Few
! Have Seen.
| Boston Herald.
In times past, the August meteOrs were known
| TO some ms the tears of st. Lawrence ST. Law
renee, or LaurentIus, according to uadllion,
suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Vale
ran IN the year 25S. After the martyrdom OF
MS friend, the Pope, whose fate he wished TO
| share, he was commanded to deliver up the
treasures OF the church. Promising to comply,
| he brought before the Roman governor the sick,
the paupers, and the crpples whom he had
under his care, saying: Behold! These are our
| treasures" This was regarded as an insult, and
| ne was condemned 10 be roasted alive on a large
gridlron, or, according to some, in IN iron chair.
Inc heavens might we'll have shed tears. burning
| tears that so gentle should have been sub
Iected to fate so rude; but, unfortunately
TOR the validity of pieus tradition, the tears Of
IRE were shed long, long before the time of ST.
Lawrence, and will continue to be shed long
after the tradition in regard TO the amIable eL-
thusiast, together with all other myths which
the fancy of the older generations has woven,
snail have melted into a distant and irrecovera
Bile past. How long, indeed, these streams shall
Continue no one can know, but there seems some
reason to think that they may in time become
exhausted Every time a planet passes through
them a portion of the stream is caught and
added to the mass OF the larger body. The Dor
ton thus lost may seem rs nothing compared to
that which remains and vet, small as the loss Is,
1t needs but to he repeated often enough III or
der TO absorb the whole. 1t may seem TO some,
however, that the solar system itself will have
been destroyed before so slow process be
eneetlve In producing so large a result, for the
number OF the mete0rs is enormous and almost
lncalculabe. The August stream, where
the earth crosses IT, has been
estimated TO have a thickness of more than o.
OOo,OO0 miles, so that the earth, moving at the
rate OF about 100000 miles day, is upward
OF seven days IN crossing the stream. In day
not marked by an excessive fall OF meteors, that
is to say, an average day of meteoric falls, the
number which enters the earth's atmosphere
be shown to be from 900 600 10 iO, 600. 900, ali
of which, under favorable circumstances, would
be visible to the naked eye. The vast ameun5
OF meteors which fall that are too faint to be so
visible exceeds all calculation. Those which
telescopes of very moderate power would make
known, could they command the sweep OF the
whole heavens from all points OF the earth's
surface, are Co be counted by hundreds of mil
lions And yet every increase of optical power
would show more and more, and so far as We
know, Increase the number indefinitely. Now,
at the time of the August showers, meteurs are
about ten times as numerous as usual
Inc number varies, they do not
seem to be uniformly distributed throughout
the length of theestream, and the earth may
cross IL at one time at a point where they are
very numerous, and at another AT point where
they are comparatively rare But there is no
place, so far as observation goes, where their
density s SO feeble that should their
path without convincing evidence Of their pres
ence. The reader will be surprised, perhaps,
ihat an estimate OF the proximity of the meteors
to each other has placed the interval which
separates a meteor from its companions at more
than one hundred miles This would not seem
TO be a remarkable density, and would not of
itself indicate that they were very numerous;
but when we reflect upon the enormous thick
ness OF the stream, and upon Its length, reaching
hey oud the orbit of Neptune, which revolves
about the sun at distance equal to nearly 3,0O0
600, 900 miles we readily see that there is SPACE
sufficient TO accommodate meteors, even sup
posing them SO far removed from one another,
in unlimited numbers. IL may seem strange, il
meteOrs are SO far apart, that we sometimes see
as many as do But 1t must he remembered
that the earth is moving through space at the
rate OF about nineteen miles a second If, then,
the meteOrs lay directly along our path, and
were stationary, and were, so tG speak, in single
hle, we should, after catching one, IN less than
six seconds come up with the next, and 80 on
continuously. If they were moving toward u.s.
we should of course encounter them still more
frequently. If they were moving directly from
us, we should not catch them at all, for the me-
teors, at least those of the August stream, move
at the rate OF thirty-eight miles a second, or
double the velocity of the earth In its orbit.
IL was this rapldiIy of their motion which led
Prof. Schiaparei, CT Milan, TO make
a mathematical investigation of their motion,
which led TO a very interesting and remarkable
result; for 1t was found that the elements OF
their orbit, which he computed, cOineided al
most exactly with those OF the comet III, of
1862, so nearly, indeed, that the meteors aud
the comet must pursue common orbit. Some
have thought that the meteoric stream was com
posed or fragments OF the comet which have
been scattered along the course of it's orbit. but
lt seems more likely that the comet is itself me
OF the stream, an August meteor, and differs
FROM the rest only in being more conspicuous.
This comet mas IA period of 12I years, so that
exactly one hundred years will elapse from the
present time before it again appears. 1t has
also been found that the orbit of the Novem-
Der meteors comedies with that of the comet
or-1S66 These results omen up not only
new notions in regard TO cOmeGs, but also new
notions in regard to the constitution of the uni
verse.
1t is little unfortunate that, in order to see
mete0rs to the best advantage, one must take
the hours after midnight. They Increase iD
number from the disappearance of twilight In
the evening unIll the reappearance of twilight
IN the morning, bein g most numerous before day
light. Those who are not sufficiently enthus
astic TO surrender the hours of rep0se for sucl q
purpose must be content with such IL display as
the early evening may afford. Last year the
display was rather meager, not averaging more
than twenty an hour single observer,
though at times the number has run as high as
210.