The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-16

thC SAdSt ISiiou IS DSllNeu to De about S3 1-4 years. Consequently there Is much uncertainty whether the chief shower will occur next year or the year after. But the displays of 1883 and 1866 were both preceded by an advance guard F months before the main dem .onstration. Hence all that may be req sonably expected this year, on the an nlversary of the Leonid display, is a premonitory sprinkle, not fully de- Veloped shower, The dates on which observation is most likely to be repaid with results are November 12, 13 and II, And the best hours for such vigils are those between midnight and dawn. Leo now rises in the northeast at about ii o'clock. Inasmuch as there is no moon worth mentioning at present, any display of meteors that does occur will be more distinct this year than on some other occasions.
 The meteors whose radiant point is in Andromeda-a little north of the zenith in the early evening-gave their best remembered exhibitions in 1872 and 1885. There were moments during the night of November 27 both of those years, when more than 150 me- teors were observed inside of 60 sec onds Thus, it will be perceived, there were several shooting stars visible at the same instant. The show was not continuous and uniform, but at times the skies were almost filled with long streaks of light.
 There is reason to think that the time interval between the reappear- ance of the Andromemdes has been shortened slightly. Early in the cen tury the swarm of matter to which they belong crossed the earth's orbit on the very last day of November. But the showers of 1872 and 1885 occurred on the 25th. And in 1892 Professor Young saw a quantity of meteors that seemed to emerge from Andromeda on the night of November "A. It is barely possible, therefore, that if there is a good display in the vincinity of that constellation this year it will be visi- ble on the latter date. rather than on | the former. It will pay to watch the northern heavens immediately after l dark every clear evening this month from the 23d to the 18th.
 | Meteors are the wreckage of comets. The nucleus of comet is belived to be merely loose aggregation of cold, stony matter, moving in paths that closely resemble elipses in form A comet comes from point we'll out in space-often beyond our solar system and approaches the sun as closely as the nearer planets. Then it describes a sharp curve. and whisks off into re- moter regions again. It is only when comparatively near the sun that it be- comes visible, and under the influence of solar heat it develops tail on such occasions, But as the component mass es of the swarm are of various sizes, and are at unequal distances from the sun, the influence of that bodys at traction upon them is not uniform. The tendency of things, therefore, is toward disintegration and separation And after many visits to the central orb of the planetary system to which the earth belongs a comet becomes badly demoralized.
 Other forces may possibly operate to break comet up. Biela's comet, for instance, made number of circuits about the sun as a single object-not a solid mass like satellite, to be sure, but a sufficiently compact assortment of dust, pebbles and powders to ex- 1 hibit but one nucleus. About 40 years ago, however, something happened to 1t out in space, and it was split in two. Then one-half failed to appear, at least as comet The other half has been seen so few times since that occa- sion that it's existence as a comet is 1 now open to doubt
 | A marked increase in the quantity of the Andromedes was discovered sim ultaneously with the disappearance of Biela's comet The stream of matter composing the late November shower pursues a. path in space which corre- spends to the orbit of that comet. The inference of the astronomers therefore, is that the Andromedes are it's man. gled remains. Similarly, it has been de- cided that the Leonids are remnants Of one of Tempels comets.
 As one of these processions becomes more and more disorganzed it grows broader and less compact Stragglers from the ranks fall behind, or, by some curious chance, find themselves in advance of the main column. Slowly and steadily these tiny bodies are sep arated until the wreckage reaches al- most all the way around the track This fact explains the appearance of a few Andromedes almost every year. The meteors of the Leonid group have not yet become so widely distributed. The great majority are so close to each other that the earth will pass through the densest part of the swarm in five or six hours. But along the line of their flight a few are a year ahead of their brothers and sisters.
 Every now and then one hears talk about collision between the earth and comet The absurdity of the fears thus excited will be realized when one remembers that a meteor shower like those here described is practically such a collision. What one sees at these times are particles of cometary matter, varying in size from that of pea to that of a pumpkin seldom any larger-and widely scatter 1 ed. Friction between the air and these l flying chips burns most of them up before they can reach the surface of l the earth. Few survive the ordeal. De- casonally masses of meteoric stones are discovered which weigh tons. but