New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-11-06

lessor Young saw a quantity OF meteors that
seemed to emerge from Andromeda on the night
of November "a It Is barely possible there
fore that IL there IS a good dsplf in the Vicin-
ity Of that const citation this year It will be Visi-
BILE on the latter date rather than on the former.
1t will pay to watch the northern heavens I'M
mediately after dark every clear evening this
month from the 23d to the 18th.
Meteors are the vreckage OF comets. The
nucleus Of a comet is believed to De merely
loose aggregation Of cold. stony matter. moving
in paths that closely resemble cllipses in form.
A comet comes from a point we'll out in space
often beyond our solar system-and approaches
the sun as closely as the nearer planets. Then
il describes Il sharp curve. ana whisks on INTO
remOter regions again. II is only when com
paratively near the sun that it becomes visible,
and under the influence Of solar heat it develops
a tail on such occasions. But as the component
masses Of the swarm are of various sizes and
are at unequal distances from the sun. the in
nuence Of that body's attraction 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
comet becomes badly demoralized.
Other forces may possibly operate to break
comet up Bicla's comet, for instance, made
number Of circuits about the sun As single
objcct-not a solid mass like a satellite to be
sure. but a sufficiently compact assortment Of
dust pebbles and powders 10 exhibit but one
nucleus About forty years ago. however. some
thing happened TO it out in space. and ii was
split in two Then one half failed to appear.
at least as 4 comet The other half has been
far ms since that occasion that its
existence as a comet is now open to doubt.
A marked increase in the quantity of the An
dromcdes was discovered simultaneously with
the disappearance II Biea's comet The stream
of matter composing the late November shower
rursues a path in space which corresponds to
the orbit Of that comet The inference Of the
therefore. il that the Andromedes
are it's mangled remains. Similarly. 1t has been
decided that the Leonids remnants Of one Of
Temples comets.
As one OF these PROFESSIONS becomes moro and
more disorganzed it grows broader and less
compact. Stragglers from the ranks fall be-
hind or. by some curious chance. find themselves
in advance of the main column. Slowly and
steadily these tiny bodies are separated until
the wreckage reaches almost all the way around
tn, track This fact explains the appearance
OF a few Andromedes almost every year. The
mcteors Of the LeOnid group have not yet be-
come 80 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 a
collision between the earth and comet. The
absurdity Of the fears thus excited will be real
lied when one remembers that a meteor shower
like those here described is practically such