Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1897-11-19
SHOWER OF STARS.
Brilliant Displays Expected Nov. 10 to
% Fire Balls May Be Seen From
tae Time the Stars Begin TO
Shoot.

c. Comstock of the WaShburn obserya-
tory makes the following interesting
statement regarding November me-
teors: Historical records running back
for 900 years show that from time to
time there have appeared in the months
oi October d November great star
showers which, at first regarded with
awe and terror as signs of impending
evil or of the end of the world, have IN
more recent times lost this portentouN
character and are now eagerly antici-
pated by the enlightened portions OF
mankind as among the most beautiful
and impressive Of natural phenomena.
during the past century the most
conspicuous of these displays OF shoot
inc stars nave occurred about the mid
die of November and the years 1872
1888 and 1867 were epochs of unusu-
ally brilliant displays. The other rec
ords confirm this interval of 80 or 81
years between dates as beiog always
the interval between successive recur-
rences of the showers although the lar
Their back we trace the records the ear
lier in the month of November do we
lind them occurring and in medieval
times they came as early as the middle
o., OctOJcr.
I'VE may therefore expect a return
of the star showers in 1899 or 1900 at
about the same date as in 1867. Nov.
-, or possibly day or two later. But
at the present time it is of interest and
impor ance TO note that these showers
are not confined to the years in which
they display their greatest brilliancy'
but NAV be seen in diminished splen-
dor for two or three years preceding
and following these periods,
IN THE MORNING HOURS.
"On Noy. Is and Il, 1896 symptoms
of these impending showers were de-
tected by many astronomers who were
watching them and it is altogether
probable that in the morning hours of
Nov. ID to 20 of the present year these
precursors of the great shower of 1899
will be even more conspicuous than Il
year ago.
ut IS well understood that these star
showers are caused by collisions be-
tween the earth and great swarm of
meteoric stones which moves around
the sun in an orbit crossing the orbit
of the earth at the place reached by the
earth about the middle of November.
The swarm has a comparatively dense
central region in which the meteors are
packed unusually close together and
collision with this region such as is eX-
pected to occur IN 1899 produces an
enormous number of shooting stars and
a spondingly brilliant display in
the heavens, but proceeding and fol-
lowing this central condensation is "a
front and rear to the meteoric process
sion in which the great abundance of
matter present at the center gradually
falls off to nothing at all at the ends,
and it is this front OF the procession
that the earth is to encounter within
the next few days.
"How closely packed together the
meteors will be found in this part of
the line no one knows and it is even
possible that the shower will prove al
together disappointing this year. 1t is
equally uncertain whether the meteors
are arranged in a single coiumn or in
three parallel columns S some astron-
omers have supposed, and these are
points at which our knowledge may be
considerably increased during the next
few years by cooperation among OBJ
servers in which amateurs may take
part equally with professional astrono-
mers, since no telescope is required for
the necessary observations.
COUNT THE SHOOTING STARS.
1.-The comparative density of the
several parts of the meteoric swarm
may by ascertained by simply counting
the number of shooting stars which
come from it per hour, or, better, by
counting and recording the number
seen in each half hour from midnight
to 1890, from 1890 to a. M, etc. If
the meteors are'moving in single col
umn it Ii be found that the number
OF meteors seeriper hour will Increase