The herald., 1897-11-13
METEORIC SHOWERS
SPECTACLE, BUT
EARLY SUNDAY MORNING
Phenomenon Explained by B. r.
Baumgardt-Academy Of Scien-
ces to Witness It

The astronomical section of the South
ern California Academy of Sciences will
make an excursion to Mount Lowe this
afternoon to view the annual appear
ance of the Leonids meteoric shower to-
morrow morning from 1 o'clock until
daylight. For the benefit of those who
have not made an especial study Of as
tronomy Mr. B. r. Baumgart yesterday
gave the following brief summary OF
this phenomenon and it's causes:
"The Leonids are ring of meteors
which revolve about the sun. The dame
ter of their orbit is one thousand mil
lion miles. On account Of the fact that
this orbit is extremely elliptic, and also
because the plane of the earth's orbit
crosses that of the meteors, it follows
that the earth encounters them once in
every revolution around the sun.
ut happens that this takes place when
the line Of sight from the earth to the
radiant point of the meteors, by projec-
tion, is situated in the constellation
Leo, hence the name, and the time varies
from the 18th to the 18th of November,
depending somewhat upon the angular
position Of the earth in its relation to
this point in the heavens, and whether
or not it is leap year.
"The periodic time Of this stream of
meteoric matter is thirty-three years.
AS the stream is dense in some portions.
and densest In certain portion, thin
ming out gradually, until it becomes al
;nx, fotI follows fhot tho O n
must pass through the densest portion
once in every thirty-three years.
when this takes place we have one
of those awe-inspiring Spectacles which
history relates as having taken place at
different times; as. for instance, at the
death of Julius Caesar. 1t was just such
spectacle as this that Alexander Won
Humboldt observed from the Andes of
South America in 1893.
Thirty three years later than this
some people who are now living will re-
member similar spectacle; again. in
1866, 1t was repeated, and the papers of
that year bear evidence of the exceed
ing grandeur of the phenomenon. OF
course, in 1899 the earth will again en-
counter the densest portion of the
stream.
"As, however, the densest portion of
the stream takes more than one year
to pass through the orbit of the earth,
it follows that for one or two years pre-
oeding and for as long time succeed
ing the year 1892 we may expect bril-
liant meteoric spectacles on or about the
14th of November. For this reason as
tronomers are looking for the display
Sunday morning.
spectacle with the aid of Prof. Swift's
mammoth telescope. 1t will be almost
in quadrature Cor at right angles with
the SUM, and hence will show the shad-
ows cast by the mountains and craters
to the best advantage, and the lunar
sunset taking place on the lunar termin-
ator will, indeed, be beautiful sight.
THE Pleiades, too will be most inter-
esting through the telescope. The dou-
BILE star Beta Cygna, the two most beau
tif!ll in the heavens, the one Andromeda,
the other Orion, will afford a spectacle
not soon to be forgotten by those who
possess a spark of enthusiasm for the
beauties of the Siderial universe"
A special car of the Pasadena and
Pacific railway will leave PA South
Spring street at 4 p. Ill. to convey the
members of the academy and their
friends to Mount Lowe. 1t is the in
tention Of the members to spend a por-
tion of Sunday at Alpine tavern and on
the summit of the mountain.