The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-09-29
MISSILES .=EoM THE HEAVENS.
0iliions Of Them Fall, but Comparatively
Few Reach the Earth.

Dillisns Of Them Fall. but Compsrstivs,,
Few Reach the Earth.
ut is a mistake to suppose that mete.
orites burst in the proper sense of the
word" said q scientist to . writer. ''Bu,
it often happens that they are broken to
pieces on striking the atmosphere Of the
earth. This may seem surprising. but
let me call your attention to an analogy.
btrike the surface Of water with your
fist, and. though q fluid, the resistance il
opposes to the blow seems almost a.
strong Is if it were solid. Now, the me.
teorite is moving at a tremendous rate OF
speed. Il small, it is set on fire in an in
slant by the friction Of the air, and after
glowing for q moment brightly is con
sumed.
ION any night in summer you will
see shooting stars now and then. They
are meteorites, which on coming into
contact with the e.r.h's atmosphere are
set afre. This Is not surprising, mas.
much as they approach the planet on
which we live at IA speed which often at
tains A miles a second. By causing the
destruction of meteorites the atmosphere
serves as a protection for people on tho
globe, who would otherwise be pelted
by such missiles to a dangerous extent
1t is estimated that not less than O,OOO,.
900 of them, big enough to be visible tc
the naked eye, strike the earth every "a
hours.
by contact with this planet the me-
Rorites are raised to a temperature which
reaches from 5000, 900 to 1900. 900 de.
grees-high enough to consume the hard
est known substance almost instantly.
Thus only those Of large size reach the
earth before being entirely burned up
The greatest number Of such bodies can
be seen just before daybreak, because by
that time we are IN the front side of the
globe as it moves through space. The
elevation 1T which most of them are Wis
lble has been found to be between 45 and
80 miles, very few being seen at q greater
height than 100 miles.
1T is believed by most astronomers
that some very large meteors have en-
tered u atmosphere and have passed
out into space again. their great mo
mentum being. sufficient to take them
away from the earth's attraction. What
these flying bodies are is a question that
has been much disputed, but it is con-
sidered most likely that they are the
debris of broken up comets. In one re-
cent instance the correctness of tn, the
DRY has found striking proof. That was
the case OF the comet of Biela. 1t was
discovered in 1926 and was again OBJ
served in 1892, 1916 and 1852. In 1916 it
had split into two parts, and in 1872 it
Jailed to appear when and where L
should have done. Evidently it had been
smashed up, and prediction was made
that there would be q great meteoric
shower composed Of the remains Of the
lost comet. This prediction was fulfilled
Ger ain groups of meteors move in
elliptical orbits around the sun. Occa-
sionally the eafth passes through their
clusters. producing what are known as
meteoric showers. Such showers occur
annually from the 9th to the 18th of Al
gust, and there Is a similar display ir
November once every SO years. The
stream Of the August lneteors is est
mated to be from 5000. 900 to 10. coo. 900
miles thick. The earth, though travel
ing with IL. ;elocity Of 2 900, 900 miles a
DAY, is in aersed il il for several days.
The fall Of mereorites TO the earth is
sometimes accompanied by a great dis
play of light. occasionally illuminating
an area Of many thousand square miles
When such al event occurs at night, and
with loud detonatlons, so great in some
instances az To shake houses and fright
81 men and animals, the explosions are
caused by the breaking ny Of the ,oe-
teoY. Ordinarily you will find that such
meteor1c bodies are coated on the out
side with a black substance, which is
the effect merely Of fusion Of the super
hclal material by great neat. A piece Of
Biela's comet was actually picked up in
Mexico IL 1872 al the time Of the shower
Of its remains. Naturally il is consid.
Interesting.
"Such great interest," IL taken III mete-
orftes tina all Of those collected nave
beet carefully c~atalogued. They are
mostly composed Of iron, with usually d
percentage of nickel and cobalt and
sometimes copper and til. 1t ls custom
AIRY to saw them into slices, which il d
iauorious process, for SAFE Or for eS-
Change among museums. Sometimes
the slices arr prettiiy polished, or the GU.
surfaces arr etched with acid SO de u es
pos the crystalline structure. TIM
structure Is IL no TWO sucn DodIes exact
~ the same. and the differences art
thought vel worth studying Attempts
Deeu made 10 counterfeit meteor
ties because they are ST valuable, pus
without success w asninytou Star
Fishing b. ELECTRICITY.