The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-11-09
YOUR PEPPERS
SHOOTING STARS BY BUNDREDS
ARE DUE THIS WEEK.

stream Which Intersects the Earth's
Orbit Every Thlrty-Three Years and
Will be Due Two Years Hence, Is to be
Seen These November Nights for .
Week, the Display Culmina. on the
Night of the 12ih-Some Theories as to
\ Meteors and the Earth's Fate.
The sky is full Of meteors. They are
| flying about like ire-bugs in a swamp.
L. does not take a telescope to see them
All you've got to do is to go into your
front yard with ascarf around your neck
gum shoes on your feet as a protection
against the dew and oe patient. 1t will
be no trick at all to count at least a
hundred In night, and II the display OF
celestial fire works is not satisfactory
you are entitled TO get your money back.
The performance has just started, and
will continue 10 get better for a week,
reaching .tile best and most magnificent
| production on the evening OF November
IA.
Astronomer George W. Hough Of
Northwestern University calls atten-
ton to the pyrotecnical demonstration.
He says the blazing strangers with their
long tails Of brilliancy bear no import
| ance when considered scientifically.
They are only interesting because they
! make a weird show, and possibly illus
trate the way in which this now stolid
earth OF ours may be Nl1irled to an in
stantaneous doom at the end of time.
The men who handle the telescopes
have made rules for the operations in
the sky as explicit as the running schei-
ule of railroad, and they have been ex-
| peoxing the meteors. The earth Is al
| most due to cross tine great army of
! wanderers which mas moved in its beaten
| track for thirty-three years. The crowd
of burning monsters is so big that the
| stragglers are now coming into view
two NoveTnbers before the main body
will Goe reached.
PROFESSOR HOUGH EXPLAINS.
There are many who Will remember
the wonderful sights in November, 1866,
and the two Novembers preceding that
date" said DR.. Hough last night. ''T1e
sky was brilliant with meteors. It was
possible for me, stationed at Auburn, N.
Y, to count forty-seven a minute. The
only drawback in witnessing partial
repetition OF the show this year will be
that the best hours for observation are
those just before dawn. The shower Is
due by rule to repeat itself during this
November and the following two. There
Is no telling whether It will equal the
brilliancy Of the last important season
Of meteors or not. They have begun to
make an appearance. One ought to be
able to see a hundred or 50 almost any
clear night during the rest Of the month.
''The fall this year will be merely the
forerunner of that to come In 1899. It
may not be that the shower will be as
abundant as Ii was before. The meteors
are constantly changing, and the size
Of the cluster changes. The ones that
get too far from their course sweep into
tine atmosphere and start for the earth.
The friction turns them up. 1t happens
only occasionally that a piece Of a sup
posed meteor is found in this country.
1t may be that the cluster has been ad-
ded to this year, and that it will take us
longer to get through the stream than
usual. In this case we snail see them in
great abundance. The watching OF
them is of no importance from scien-
tific standpoint. but they always attract
the public eye
NO ACCIDENT IN 1T.
This celestial bombardment to which
astronomers and common sky-gazeTs
are looking forward with anxiety is not
a hephaZard incident, according to the
dates in the catalogue Of the rules of
the heavens. 1t was long ago discover
ed that a great stream Of meteors had
been gathered into one path and had
started in a grand orbit around the sun.
It was figured out that the earth would
pass through this stream once in third
Of q century. The rule has not failed.
The sky was the scene Of a host Of flash
ing wanderers in 1888 and again in 1866
The indications are that the exhibition
will be repeated in 1899.
This dazzling stream OF remnants OF
planets is SO long that the front OF It
seen in Struggling way some six or
eight years before the main body IS
reached. The earth comes upon Il with
infallfble regularity in November.
There are signs in the sky That some
thing is about to happen at this time
While it is two years until the thrice-in-
hundred-years date shall come around
and a full week until the real opening
-Ie eIe susAysU aQl NOUS eUl 10 lQSIu
ready being billed for the demonstra-
ton. 1t is recorded in two previous OBJ
servations-in 1888 and 1s66-that for
three nights preceding and three nights
following November IA it has been worth
the while Of any man TO sit UP and
watch for the burning up of the thous-
ands OF mereors that come within range
Of the earth's atmosphere and are crush
ed into gas consumed by heat.
TELESCOPES IN ACTION
The Yerkss telescope ani the telescope
Of the Northwestern University and all
the other telescopes OF the world will be
used with industry on this occasion.
Professor Barnard will search for new
facts from the bluffs OF Williams Bay,
and Professor Housh will try 10 verify
the old rule and make new ones with the
instrument et Evanston. It is not
lodglt ina any important Iacls IroIn
an astronomical standpoint will be rec
orded, as the figh: OF the meteors is OF
interes; more TO the populist than to the
scientist. II makes an overwhelming
show from the py-otechnic.i standpoint
II has been SO imposing in some years
| and next week ought to be as imposing
as any of then-tiat men have feared
| the world was coming 10 end or that a
| great collision between the terrestrial
and celestial body would precfpitate all
| tina; is human and earthly into one chaos