Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-03-21
ON METEORIC SHOW ERS.
THEIR VISITS OF FREQUENT PERI
oDIcAl- OCCURRENCE.

New Features of the sun Revealed to the
Astronomers--A Talk with a Professor
OH a Sky High Subject.
In answer to several questions regard
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 Il year, each of which may be
expected on certain date from certain
part of the heavens.
particular showers have characters
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
strcaks after the nucleus has disap-
peared. Few of these showers last more
| than 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 have been noticed to be more
especially tireball epochs. That is, the
rare event Of an exceptionally large and
brilliant meteor or fireball is more apt
20 occur on certain dates.
Jan. 2j is the date of the meteoric
shower characterized by the swiftness of
its components, which are usually at
| tended by strcaks. The radiant point of
this shower is in the constellation called
| Bernice's 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, ap-
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 tsgether all the minute members
that go to make up a group it might
make body of very respectable size, al
though the Individual components are so
small that they seldom escape complete
disintegration and dissolution in their
passage through the atmosphere
"What produces the great light which
always follows the passage of a meteor2'
"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. IN
der these conditions even the seemingly
| lliulol lfNloNslLSG VI lilC al bNNOlAlCO do
great as chat 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 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 iority
of the stars. 1t cannot be said that any
one part of the earth can be more affect
ed by these vistants than another. There
is however, a 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 its
course"
"The appearance of the collected re-
suits of the observation of the total eclipse
of Jan. /, 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 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 nature
of many of the individual iilaments, 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 fila
ments curving away on either side of the
suns 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 Atsuch
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 the
whole is made up of curved branching
| n,,1 20