Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1892-07-02
DEsrRrr EVENING NEWS. SATURDAY. july g 1892.

falling stare during these three nightr,
all coming from apparently the same
quarter Of the hesvens--the cOustella.
ton Of Pereus. The fact that the earth
takes three days TO pass through the
shower ofsh1Oting stars uhotiea meas.
1te OF the enormous space Tue occupy
the mote 90 that they cross our orbit Mt
right angles 10 the Carih'a course.
Their Ufblt s. a long one, and cor
Responds With that OF. the great comet
pt 1852, whiru reaches distance Of
Z, l0l, 100000 kllomslers from the sun,
approaching IL nt Intervals u l2l
yeap This immuutc orbit appears to
be foil ~ snoOtiug stare. Another
date equally interesting for tie Ohlerv.
alton of shooting stars u Move her
l4,l. 90 this date they are even moro
numerous than ON August 10th. AZ
| Intervals OF thlriy-ihrte Year. they
foil Oh this date Hs thick ns auON ntLes.
! Two hundred nud forty th0u'aud are
! estimated to nave fallen on November
! 10. lSS};thc phenomenon repeated itself
/ IN 1850, ami We look forward 10 iis To-
cufrpuru IN 1890. Tho November shoot.
ing stan appear 10 come cut Of the con.
| ttrllatlUn Leo. The cOufee NJ this
group corresponds to that Of
the comet Of 1888, near The orbit OF
Uranus, at u distance NJ $50 kilome-
tcu from tho ruu, which It approaches
every thirty.three year,. In the year
1925 A. y. THIS comet, under the inilu'
uncu VI the attraction OF Uranu-,
was detected from w. original course,
and made 9 member Of the solar
eystem.
The two dates above mentioned nre
not, however, the only Ones on which
shooting stars In considerable numbctH
may he observed. Among others,
November 9th may hr mentioned
for ON this day, iu ls1s, aud again In
1873, mt least a hundred thousand shloi'
lng rt,r. were observed. Ia Rome,
where | was on the lattur date, the
phenomena excited great Interest,
ani even the Pope was evidently
not wholly uumOvei; TOR some days
later, when | had the honor OF
being received Ivy his Holiness, MS
rrst words were: "Did you sec the
golden shower OF Danae?" The shower
VI Fixed staA Of 1872 was enliloly un'
expected by the astronomer. They
had been much disturbed II, the loss
Of Bolas comet, which, after It's dis.
covory, steadily made its appearance
I h' ltAAfNNhlN W ~ a anu - AANAh NhAN h1hil
lsiB, In accordance with IT, computed
course. on this occasion, while pur
suing its course on the night OF Janu'
AIRY l8lh, 1t eplit Into twU pieces
divcfging from zach other as they pur'
sued their several courses. Both com
cts were visible ON their return In ls52
but they we're pale and faded, aud
more tnan 100000 kilOmetefs npuri
IL WAS the last sight; from that dat
tho Bella comet has never been sect
again. IL Ia vanished, annihilstct
burst up into shooting stars. Were
this net ~ It must have blsrr,ei Tia,
earth's orbit on November ~, 1879, ru.
actually have come IN contact with II
In H. stead there appeared unexpected
~ the ab1ve-mcut!oneI shower OF stars
and the conclusion was that these SINAI
bodies were the remains Of the Bel
come', u conclusion unqurstionubl
confirmed by tho observations q
November %, 1855.
This, then, l. one Of the latest con
illusions OF science. Shooting stars ar
tho fragments OF shivuTci comets
Comets, In fact, arc comparatively
short-lived bodies, few OF them persist
Ing beyond few thousand years, an
the smaller ones fOt a much less Ierio'
only, while the duration OF n plane
like our earth extends to millions o
years. The great comets whicl
frightened our ancestors would doubt
less he found to have lost much ~ thei
brllliancy n we could see AMI ideEtii.
them; for, during their course aroun
the sun, they continually throw Of
vapOr aud fragments, and are thus cor
staully subject ~ diminution.