The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1898-11-08


The advance guard of the great
November meteor swarm is due
this month, and on the nights oI
the 18th, 18th and 18th astron
omers in all parts of the earth
will be awake and on the look.
out. They will be both surpris
ed and disappointed if meteoric
spectacle, which may be a bril-.
liant one, is not beheld by some
of the watchers. The main
swarm of the meteors is not due
until November, 1899, but their
advancing columns, broken into
parallels and separated by con.
siderable gaps, occupy so much
space on the celestial highways
they traverse that millions of
the mysterious little bodies must
already have reached the neigh.
borhood of the earth's orbit, and
it can hardly happen that many
of these will not become entang-
led by the terrestrial attraction,
and dart their fiery spears
through the upper air.
The reader may like to be re.
minded that this, the greatest
known meteor shower" has a
period of 334 years; that the his
tory of these meteors has been
traced back to the year A. D.
1876, when the planet Uranus is
believed to have captured the
wanderers and turned them into
a permanent orbit around the
sun; that a comet (Tempel's) is
known to be travelling in the
same orbit with them, and that
the world was astonished at the
magnifcence of the displays
which they made in 1888 and
1866. At their return in 1866
changes had taken place in the
array of the meteors, indicating
a considerable scattering, and in
November, 1897. enormous bod
les of them were still rushing
across the earth's orbit, and an
other display occurred.
The point in the heavens from
which the meteors appear to
radiate is situated within the
curved blade of the imaginary
"sickle" which marks the con-
stellation Leo. This is not we'll
risen until midnight, but late in
the evening meteors radiating
from it may be seen shooting up
ward from the northeastern hor-
lion. Observers are advised to
begin watching for them about
II p. m. on November II, keep
ing up the watch for five nights
altogether and continuing it un-
til the morning twilight begins.
Fortunately, there will be no
trouble from the moon, which is
new" on the 18th.
The November meteors are
very swift in movement, since
the earth meets them "head on, .
and they frequently exhibit
bright colors and leave brilliant
trains.
The Harvard College Observa-
tory offers to send maps and
forms of record to all who will
take part in systematic observa-
ton of the meteors.
If the expected display on the
18th or 18th does not equal ex-
pectation, another chance will
be presented on the night of the
9th, when the celebrated And
romeda meteors are due. These
are believed to be part of the de-
bris of the vanished comet of
Biela, and they furnishen daz-
cling spectacles in 1872 and 1885.
Their period is thirteen years.
During the shower of 1885 an
iron meteor, supposed to belong
to the Andromeda swarm, and
famous under the
name OF "a piece of Biela's COM
ct" fell at Mazapil in northern
Mexico. Unlike the November
18th meteors, which are known
as the Leonids, the Andromeda
meteors are slow, because they
overtake instead of meeting the
earth. Their color is frequently
reddish. The full moon will in
5erfere with the observation of
these meteors, whose radiant
point is overhead between 8 and
L0 o'clock in the evening