Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-11-28
The November Meteor Zone.

In 1899 Humboldt, then travelling on
the Andes. saw before sunrise thousands
of meteors in the space of four hours,
leaving a track behind them from five
TO ten degrees in length, many of them
having nucleus As bright as Jupiter
In 1883 there was shower marked by
grandeur and suhlimity. The meteors
passed over the heavens like flashes of
snow, and, according 60 Arago's eSti-
nation, two hundred and forty thousand
of themfell in three hours, As seen from
his place of observation. In 1866 the
latest shower waS observed in Europe,
and a portion of it was seen in America
in 1867. The next shower is due in
1899. and is eagerly anticipated in the
hope that il will confirm several
theories based upon present and pre-
viouS observation.
The November meteors have curious
and interesting history. 1t was found
by Tempel. of MarSeilles, in 1865, that
a faint telescope comet was moving in
the same orbit. and that the meteoric
showers are caused by the earth's en-
countering q swarm of particles follow
ING Temples comet. In other words,
the comet is slowly disintegrating. and
being transformed into meteors that
will eventually till the whole zone, when
the grand showers will cease, and
display of greatly smaller proportions
will take place every year.
Tho history of the November meteor
zone is romance of meteoric aStrou.
omy. According TO leyerrior- and
some portions of his theory need con-
tirmation-ahout the year l26 of the
Christian era, TemperS comet passed
so near Uranus that the powerful nj
traction of the planet bent il from its
former course and imprisoned il within
the bounds of the Solal system, causing
it to describe an immense ellipse or
gigantic hoop, whose alhclion lies be-
You'd the orbit of Uranus, and whoSa
perihelion rests upon the carth's orbit.
Tho time intervening between the great
showers, Ssh years, proves the period
of the revolution of the meteor-zone.
1t is only ut these intervals that tho
earth crosses the brightest portion OF
the zone, consisting of the nucleus Of
the comet and Swarming meteors into
which it is being transformed. The
November meteorS start from Il point
in the constellation Leo, and are, for
this reason, called Lconids Leo is
favorably situated for observation about
three O clock in the morning, which is
y good time for picking up the few
stray meteors. which, impinging
against the earth's atmosphere, win
be set on fire by the conclusion and
take on the form of falling stars.
1t is, however, unnecessary to wait
for the earth'S passage through the No
yember meteor-zone to witness the phe-
nomenon of falling star. Hundreds
of other meteor-groupS have been OBJ
served, which, excepting the August
group, are not so we'll defined. They
are all extremely diverse, and they cross
the plane of the earth's orbit ut widely
different angles. Consequently on any
clear night falling stars may be seen 10
blaze forth suddenly in the sky, rush on
their headlong course. and then disap-
pear, leaving oftentimes train of light
TO mark their course, Instances are on
record where falling stars We're of such
brilliancy as to be visible in the day
time even, when the sky was overcast
A surprising number of these tiny
bodies fall through the atmosphere
every day. Tho average number of
those sufficiently bright 10 be seen Mt
night with the naked eye is no less than
seven millions every twenty-four hours.
Ii we include the number visible through
n telescope, the average must be in
creased to four hundred millions. Inter
planetary space swarms with metcoric
matter! The work accomplished by
these systems made up of innumerablo
atoms of cosmical dust, their origin, tho
part they play in the economy of tho
universe, and their mysterious associa-
ton with comets, are questions of the
deepest interest to astronomers. Scicl-
tifC American