, 1890-02-23
ON METEORIC SHOWERS.
THEIR VISITS OF FREQUENT PERI
ooIcAL OCCURRENCE.
Pecuiisrities of the Heavenly Displays.
New Features Of ths Sun Revealed to the
A~stronomers-A Talk with n Professor
on n Sky High Subject.

ing the frequency of meteoric showers
Professor Very said:
There are certain epochs in the year
when particular meteoric showers are
due. Assiduous observation has given a
list of nearly 100 such showers in the
course of a year, each of which may be
expected or a certain date from a certain
part of the heavens.
Particular showers have characteris-
tic features; that is, some meteors are
very swift; others rather slow. Some
vanish and leave no trace, while others
are accompanied by tails and leave
streaks after the nucleus has disap-
peared. Few of these showers last more
h one or two days, though there are
some instances where it is suspected that
successive meteors belonging to the same
group appear during several weeks. Ger
tain dates rave been noticed to be more
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 swiftnesso of
its components, which are usually at
tende by streaks. The radiant point of
this shower is in the constellation called
Bernice's Hair, a star cluster-one of the
morning consultations. As this meteor
is claimed to have been seen in the even
ing 1t is more likely to have been one of
the unclassified 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 accoun for these mete-
ORIG shower coming at regular periodsl'
was asked.
a 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
sur in many instances, and serving as
messengers from one star to mother 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
d-isintegration 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 a 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 incandescence of the condens-
ed atmosphere which accumulates in ad-
vance of an object which is moving many
times the rapidity of a cannon ball
often, | may say, with many hundred
times the rapidity OF n cannon ball. I'm
der these conditions even the seemingly
himsy resistance of the air becomes as
great as that of a solid body, producing
intense heat, and in the case of a 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 majority
of h stars. 1t cannot be said that any
one part of the earth can be more affect
ed by these visitantst than another. There
is, however, a diurnal p~eriodicity, the
larger numbers being seen in the early
morning hours VIXEN 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 its
course"
1.-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 of
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 SUMS poles in great
detail, indicating the composite nature
of many of the individual flaments, and
confirming the photographs taken at the
previous sun spot minimum of 1878,
thus rendering it almost certain that the
corona at this period assumes a symmet
rical form with regularly disposed fla
ments curving away on either side of the
SUMS axis and broad equatorial wings of
less Disseminated structure.
All this is very different from what
is seen during an eclipse when the ac-
tivity of the sun is in its height. At such
times the corona has a rudely quadrila-
teral outline, with four wings projecting
from regions approximately 40 dogs.
north and south Of the equator, and the
whole is made up of curved branching
and interlacing streamers extending to a
much greater distance from the body of
the sun, and with the equatorial sheaves
less symmetrically disposed. In regard
to the extent of the corona, it is difficult
to compare successive eclipses observed
from different parts of the earth with
very varying atmospheric condition. A
small amount of haze will blot out much
Of the fainter detail. The presence or
absence of some of these fainter features
may merely signify the presence or alb
sence of the condition of their obserya-
ton, but the variation of type is a thing
beyond question. We seem to have a
connection indicated between the broad
equatorial wings and the sun spot zones"
-ptttobu,rn D,eNatl