The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-11-13
SHOWER OF THE METEORs
Beautiful Display May Be Looked
for Tonight.
SHOOTING STARS BIZ MILLIONS
Possible THAT Ii NAV BE Delayed
Tweuty-four Hours The Pres snt
shower Caused nv the Cons.t III j.
tion OF Leo Coming m Contact
with the EartL'~ Orbit.

IL is quite likely that tonich: pr to-
n.orruw night there ma he Witnessed >ome.
where an unusually fine diSpla OF shooting
stars, probebly MOI until after midnight
THIS earti is now in the midst Of the
''Leol.ids''-thc meteUrs whicE annually
appear at this season in greater or less
nunape-. and which at intervals Of thirty
three years ian in such astonishing pro
fusion az To constitute a veritabIe shower.
The last OF these grand and .tartling
spectaclaS was witnessed on th2 morning
of November IA. 1 SIS. Tie mex, is there
fore due in $40. We nave san two wears
TO wait FOR a shower % LconidS, tut
since So !. We wears isefore the maximum
display Of SOC. the fan of meje0rS ola
tie tnorniug of November 3 was shove the
average. a repetitiUu of this preliminary
Display rsay rra sonahly Toe looked for
this vear. ". r Eenning, tie wrl-known
authority an matters oi THIS sort, has fixed
upon Vie morning of the 4th AZ I he proba-
hle TIM. of It's occurrence, though IL may
De- delayed untn the 5th.
when tie display comes, II IL com,
mt all We may not be the LUCK ones TO
witness H. These unusual exhibits never
Last above foar or five hours, and as a
CONSEQUENCE. the area Df the earths sur
face over W Inch they may he seen is re-
htrit ted The shower Of lS,i6 was wit
Messed in Europe. but not on this CONT
pent In the following wear something
approaching o shower occurred in Amer
lea, tut no remarkable display was
eivel, an Europe. The shower or 1888
WAS witnessed over the whole OF the
Tinted states, and az far south as Cen
tral Aiaerica On the morning OF No
ye,aher IS, 1899, Humboldt and Bon
plond observed most remarkable me
teoric DISPLAY IN South America, which
was alSa seen in the West indies, but
which does not appear 10 have been OBJ
served either in the United States or IN
Europe After this statement the reader
NAV he ltft 10 decide for himself a. 70
the advisaiiluy Of sitting up tonight ana
tomorrow night tc watch Tor the meteors
The nature az meteorS is now well under
stood. They are particles or small masses
of matter perhaps no bigger on an verage
Than marbles and probably rarely exceed
ing paving stones in size, which the
earth encounters ia the course az it, annual
tourney around the sun. Invisible under
=
the limits of the solar system in countless
millions. Like the short period telescope
comets, with which they are now known
10 be Intimately connected, they circle
about The sun in great shoals OF swarms
moving in elliptical orbits win planetary
velocities. The earth travels at the rate
of mole Than eighteen miles a second.
The meteor, when encountered bvthe ga rth
may be moving with an equally great We
locity, possibly in a contrary direction,
and IL enters the earth's atmosphere with
n speed that is terrific.
Although H. the upper regions II the at
musphere tie airs exceedingly att enuated.
still, the resistance which IL offers 10 the
meteor IL sufficient to hest the latter
by frictsob almost instantly to the melt
ing poat, and usually within a seconds
time the meteor has persisted il streak
of spltndor.
These Leonids 80 called from the cir
tl,mstance that they all shoot from a
point ia the heavens within the CUIIst ella
tion Les, form a hong -dTawn-oGt cluster,