Smyrna times., 1890-06-25

especially fireball epochs. That is, the
rare event Of an exceptionally large and
brilliant meteor or fireball is more apt
to occur on certain dates.
Jan. % is the date of the meteoric
shower characterized by the swiftness of
its components, which are usually at
tended by streaks. The radiant point of
this shower is in the constellation called
Bernices Hair, star cluster-One of the
morning consultations. As this meteor
is claimed to have been seen in the even
ing it is more likely to have been one of
the unclassilied sporadic meteOrs. Infor-
nation as to the position of motion, APP
parent brilliancy, color, time of appear
ance and length of time during which
the appearance lasted is likely to be valu-
able in the recovery Of the principal
characteristics of an event which is neces-
sarily seen but by few
"How do you account for these mete-
oric showers coming at regular periods"
was asked.
"All that we can say is that the celes-
tial spaces are thinly populated in every
direction with these scattered fragments,
which are veritable miniature planets
travelling in different orbits around the
sun in many instances, and serving as
messengers from one star to another in
others.
"The number of them IS simply count
less. They make up in number what
they lack in size, so that if we could
gather together all the minute members
that go to make up a group it might
make a body of very respectable size, al
though the individual cOmponents are so
small that they seldom escape complete
dsintegration and dissolution in their
| passage through the atmosphere"
"What produces the great light which
always follows the passage Of a meteor
"The light which is seen while the pas
| sage of Il meteor through the air lasts
may be due partly to the combustion Of
the materials of the air Of life, but it is
| mainly an incandesceECe of the condens-
ed atmosphere which accumulates in adj
vance of am object which is moving many
times the rapidity of Il cannon ball
| often, | may say, with many hundred
| times the rapidity of a cannon ball. Tn
! der these conditions even the seemingly
! flimsy resistance of the air becomes as
! great as that of a solid body, producing
! intense heat, and in the case Of large
meteoric stone frequently resulting in
| the fracture and demolition of the object.
| "COlOred meteOrs are sometimes seen
| with a peculiar tint of the flame, being
due to the burning of some special ingre-
dent of the meteor We have yellow,
| green and occasionally red meteOrs, but
the majority are white like the ma ajority
of the stars. 1t cannot be said that any
one part of the earth can be more affect
ed by these visitants than another There
is, however, diurnal periodicity, the
larger numbers being seen in the early
| morning hours when that portion of the
| heavens comes in view toward which the
the Orbital motion of the earth is carry
ing us. We then see not merely the com
| paratively few meteOrs whose speed is
sufficient to enable them to overtake the
earth, but that larger number composed
of all those which are gathered up in the
track of the advancing earth, whether
moving with against or athwart it.
course"
"The appearance of the collected re
suits of the observation of the total eclipse
Of Jan. 1, 1889, shows that this event has
added many interesting facts to the pre-
viOus knowledge of such occurrences
A large and very perfect photograph O
the corona was obtained by Professor
William II. Pickering, of Cambridge
Mass, and one of a smaller size by Pro
fessor Barnard, of the Lick observatory
"These show the sheaves of curling
fragments about the suns poles in great
detail, indicating the composite natur,
of many of the individual filaments, anC
confirming the photographs taken at tn,
previous sun spot minimum of 1873
thus rendering it almost certain that tn,
corona at this period assumes a symmet
rical form with regularly disposed fila
ments curving away on either side of tn
suns axis and broad equatorial wings oi
less Disseminated structure.
CAN this is very different from wha
is seen during an eclipse when the ac
tivity of the sun is in its height. At sucl
times the corona has a rudely quadrila
! teral outline, with four wings projecting
] from regions approximately 40 degs
north and south of the equator, and tn
whole is made up of curved branching
and interlacing streamers extending to
much greater distance from the body 0
the sun, and with the equatorial sheave
less symmeTically disposed. In regar
to the extent of the corona, it is Difficult
to compare successive eclipses observe
from different parts of the earth wit
very varying atmospheric condition.
small amount of haze will blot out muc
. Of the fainter detail. The presence o
" absence of some of these fainter feature
i may merely signify the presence or al
q sence of the condition of their observa
ton, but the variation of type is a thin
beyond question. We seem to have
connection indicated between the broa
equatorial wings and the sun spot zones.
-Pittsburg Dispatch.