The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-28
VAST SHOWERS OF STARS.
MOST DAZZLING DISPLAYS DURING
THE NEXT MONTH.

Two Heavenly PyrOteehnicRl ENhi-
billions in NOvcmbcr-The Earth 10
Meet the Wandering Host Of Bic
Iids-Astronomers on the Qui Vive
for the Expected Encountcr-TWo
Great Troops of Neteors Rushing
Enrthyard.
From the New York Journal
Two great meteor showers in a sipsle
month. and only two weeks apart, con-
stitute a rare event in astronomical an
nails Such an event is due TO occur in
November.
One of the expected showers VIII re-
suit from the first on-rush of the advanc-
ing columns of the great Leonid meteors,
which envelop the earth in fiery specta-
Giles once in every thir,y-three ana quar-
ter years or three times ia a century. The
main mass Of these meteors is due in No
vember. 1899, but since their array ex-
tends over length of at least TWO thou
sand million miles. they require not less
than three years to pass the place where
their orbit intersects that Of the earth.
Accordingly astronomers are confident
that their leading h.s will be stream
Ing in hundreds OF thousands, across the
point of intersection when our globe ar
rives there about Nov. 10, this year. The
tocsin Of science has been sounded, star
maps and directions 20 observers have
been scattered broadcast, the latest i'm
provements in photography have been en-
listed in the service, and the astrono-
mical world is on the qui vive for the
expected encounter.
The other great shower occurs on the
night of Nov 2. AMI viii De caused by
the meeting of the earth with the meteors
known as the Andromedes, or Belids,
which are closely related TO the famous
missing comet Of Bie.a. il they are not.
In fact, scattered debris of that comet
itself. These meteors were last seen IN
q great shower ia 1885, when a huge bah
OF blazing iron dropped ont of the sky
while 1t was filled with their dazzling
trains. and buried itself in the earth near
Mazapn IN Mexico. That meteor, or piece
Of smashed comet, is now IN a miner
illogical museum ia Europe, and the man
who mas another ike &c, after the show
er next month. Will possess a treasure
for which the entire scientific world will
envy him.
sac NftAa Ht lfEi sui " 10 sues Qut OH the
nights Of Nov. % and IA, and again on
Nov. p. and looks serenely up at the
sky with its flying sparks-if he is fortu-
nate enough TO see them-will have no idea
in how simple a manner he is protected
from a great danger. If he did have the
IDEA an element OF fear and dread might
tend TO upset his equanimity
Only the transparent air protects us
against death from meteors. What the
effect OF small meteor striking a human
body with undiminished velocity would be
We can only guess. A Mauser bullet trav-
cling say 1000 feet a second when it
enters the brain cavity, or any of the wat
er-charged tissues of the body. produces
effects that make even army sur
geons recoil aghast
But meteOr's velocity at the instant IL
strikes the atmosphere is from $1,000 to
$4,000 feet per second. Would il blow a
man to pieces as if a can of nitro-glycer-
inc had been exploded against his breast?
Or would il incinerate him like a stroke
of lightning, even as it is itself incln-
Grated by the more than furnace heat OF
its rush through the air? However we
may answer these questions, there remains
plentiful food for thought in the spectacle /
OF thousands of such missiles burning
themselves into harmless puffs of gas a
few miles above our heads.
And, what makes the whole question
thoAt interesting occasionally Inc shield
OF the atmosphere proves insufficient and
the earth's armor is penetrated by
meteor OF more than ordinary size and
density. This is what happened at Maza-
pill during the shower of the Audromeces
IN 1885, and it may happen again next
month.
The Mazapil meteor, composed mostly of
iron, burned itself two or three feet in
the hard soil. and was dug out, yet glow
ing with heat, by persons who had seen II
fan. If a similar meteor should fall in
New York city, Notwithstanding the loss
OF velocity it would suffer in passing
through a hundred miles or so of air. 1t
would penetrate the stoutest roof or wall
and if as large as some others that have
been known to reach the earth 1t would
demolish a twenty-story building more
effectively than whole broadside Of thir-
teen-inch shells could do it,
The adventures of the two great troops
of meteors which are now rushing rapidly
toward the earth have been varied and
startling, and the future may have stin
more remarkable things in store for them
and for us. The Leonids (thus called be-
cause they appear to radiate from the con-
stellation Leo hold, like the Andromedes
close relation with comet which is trav-
cling in the same track. Every time thew
meet the earth they suffer violent per-
turbations.
-1N~AN~ NttN AAAiAAtAlo WHICH are consumed
with fire in the air, other millions ana biz
lions are whirled into new paths and
drawn out into streams like eddying leaves
in storm. Although the general orbit OF
the meteors is not changed, yet after each
with the earth their companies
and columns are broken and reformed
gaps are created and the entire mass is
drawn out into more extended array
Because of these changes it is quite i'm
possible to predict the precise point in the
neteoric formation which the earth viii
strike when IL meets the stream.
In 1888 particularly dense mass en-
eountered the globe and the result was a
spectacle that carried terror broadcast
over the world, the greatest excitement
being produced on the plantations of our
Southern states. where the negro slaves
believed that the end of the world was
upon them. while their white masters
could not give them the assurance that
their fears were not well founded. All ac-
counts agree that the universal amaze
ment on the 18th of November. 1883. was
such as the world has very rarely expert
enced.
In 1885, when the earth next encountered