The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-10-24
A RAIN OF FIRE
Will Fall November 18th When
the Earth
Encounters the Procession of
MeteOrs Due Every
THIRTY-THREE YEARS
Their Array Extends Over Bill
lions of Miles
And MeteOric Showers May Be
Expected For Three Years.

New York, Oct. 24-Two great meteor
shows in single month, and only two
weeks apart, constitute a rare event in
astronomical annals. Such an event is
due to occur in November.
One of the expected shows will result
from the first on-rush of the advancing
columns of the great Leonid meteors
which envelop the earth in fiery specta-
cles once in every thirty-three and a
quarter years. The main mass of these
meteors are due in November 1899, but
since their array extends over a length
of at least 1000, 900 miles, they re-
quire not less than three years to pass
the place where their orbit intersects
that of the earth.
Accordingly, astronomers are conf
dent that their leading files will be
streaming in hundreds of thousands
across the point of intersection when
our gil be arrives there, about November
13, this year. The tocsin of science has
been sounded, star maps and directions
to observers have been scattered broad
cast, the latest improvements in pho
Biography have been enlisted in the SER
vice, and the astronomical world is on
the qui vive for the expected encounter.
The other great shower occurs on the
night of November 29, and will be
the meteOrs known as the Andromedes,
or Bielids, which are closely related to
the famous missing comet of Biela if
Ihey are not, in fact, scattered debris of
that comet itself. These meteors were
laSu seen IN great shower in 1885, when
a huge ball of blazing iron dropped out
of the sky while it was filed with their
dazzling gra- rs, and buried itself in the
earth near Mazap1, in Mexico. That
meteor, or pieces of a smashed comet.
is now in meteorological museum in
Europe.
Only the transparent air protects ia
against death from meteors A meteor's
velocity at the instant it strikes the at
mosphere is from $4,000 to 25O 600 feet
persec nd. Occas ona lily he shields of the
atmosphere proves insufficient, and the
earth'S armor is penetrated bya uateeur.
OF more than ord nary size and density
This is what happened at Mazapu dur
ing the shower of the Andromedes in
month.
The Mazapi1 meteor, composed mostly
OF iron, buried itself two or three feet
IN the hard soil, and was dug ont vet
glowing With heat, by persons who had
seen II faH. If a similar meteor should
ran IN New York city, notwithstandine
the loss of velocity it would suffer in
passing through a hundred miles or so
OF air, 1t would penetrate the stoutest
rooI or wall and if as large as some
others that have been known to reach
the earth, it would demolsh a twenty
story building more effectively that q
Whoie broadside of 13-inch shells could
The adventures of the two great
troops OF neteors which are now rush
ms rapidly toward the earth have been
varied and startling, and the future
may nave still more remarka BILE thines
IN store for them and for us The 3
Qnlds thus called because they appear
to radiate from the cOnsteIIa fio11 T ~
hold, like the Andromedes. close raIatioy11
with a comet which is travelina- in tbo
same Same track Every time they meet the
ea5Cn 5hey sufer violent perturbations
Bes1des the millions which are con
Surned with fire in the air, other mil
mons ana m1IIlonS are WhirIed into new
pains ana drawn out into streams like
eddylng leaves in a storm
In 1888 a particularly dense macs an
countered the globe and the result vas
a spectacle that carried terror broad
cast over the world, the greatest excite
ment being produced on the plantati0rs
of our southern states. where tba Y1aero
slaves believed that the end of fbe
WorId was upon them, while their white
masters could not give them the assur-
ance that their fears were not 1,la1
founded. All accounts agree that +bi-
universal amazement on the 18th of No
Vember of 1888 was such as the world
has very rarely experienced
In 1866, when the earth next enco,,r-
tered the Leonid meteors the dfsnIav
was magnificent, but not so overw helm
ing as in 1888. Brilliant showers were
seen in the years immediateIv T7race7
ing and following 1866 and this fac+ i
a principal reason for expecting a dis
play this year. Whether we shall nov
encounter compact column of metaors
or comparatively scattered mass no
one can foretell, but that many will he
seen may be regarded as a certainty.
Even the precise time when the most
brilliant spectacle will be presented is
not known. The Harvard College oh
servatOry advises watchers to bepin
their vigil about II o'clock on the even
ing of November II and keep it IN 11rtiI
the stars fade in the morning twilight
on November Is.
One circumstance will be esnecia IIv
favorable for a brilliant display: The
moon, being new, will not interfere with
its light. The moon, too, will be in
vOlved in the shower. Being without
any appreciable atmosphere its sur
face will have no protection against the
hail Of meteOrs, and the spectacle of
their striking, if we could witness it
near by. probably would astonish US be-
yOnd measure.
AS to peril from meteors, it should he
said that the most dangerous kind ap-
parently do not belong to any well
known swarm, but travel INDEPENDENTLY
through space and strike, unannourced
into the atmosphere. Such meteors fire.
quently reach the ground, and people
have on rare occasions been killed bv
them. But among the hundreds of thou
sands of meteors that filled the sky as
thick as snoWhakes in 1893, 1866, 1872
and 1885. only one (the Mazapil iron)
was seen to strike the earth, and there
is doubt whether that one belonged to
the swarm or came along independently