The herald., 1898-11-02
LOS ANGELES HERALD WEDNESDAY MORNING NOVEMBER

one expected in 1899. which will be similar to
the historic rain of stars" as it was then
called, of 1888. Concerning the coming me-
teoric showers, Mr.. Knight said:
"On the morning of November IA, 1899, an
important astronomical event will tNke
place. The earth, moving at the rate of
eighteen miles per second, will pass through
stream Of invisible particles that is now
approaching it orbit, and such of these par
ticles as enter our atmosphere will become
instantly luminous.
This stream of meteors is estimated to be
about 100000 miles wide and 1,500, ,000, 600
miles in length, and now stretches from be-
yond the orbit of Saturn to point within
the orbit of the planet Mars. 1t is moving
in the path of Tempel's comet, and is be.
lieved to be composed of the disintegrated
materials which once formed that comet.
1--WE judge of the nature of these materials
by what we observe when they come into
our atmosphere as the earth passes through
the stream once in thirty-three years, the
period required for Tempel's comet to COM
plete revolution in its long elliptlcal orbit
around the sun. The great majority of the
minute objects are not much larger than
canary seeds, varying from that to the size
of pea or bean, though small percentage
of them, which produce very bright streaks
and trains, may equal the size of an almond
or walnut.
"Their number during the meteoric shower
is very great, and the display is correspond
ingly brilliant and imposing. During the
great shower of 1888, an observer in one OF
the Atlantic states estimated that 2SO,000
meteors were seen within his horizon. In
that year the meteors were not observed in
large numbers in Europe, but on their next
visit to the earth in 1866, comparatively few
were seen in America, while Europe and
western Asia were favored with magnifi
cent shower.
"On the year previous to the great mete-
oric showers of 1888 and 1866, an extraor
dinary number of meteors were seen on the
morning of November l3th from which
circumstance it is inferred that there are
many so-called struggling meteors in advance
of the main column, and we are thus led to
expect similar visitation on the correspond
ing date Tor one day later) this year, and
it may prove very interesting occasion, well
worthy of our arising at 2 O'Clock in the
morning to witness.
These meteors, which follow in the path
OF Tempels comet, seem to radiate from that
part of the heavens in which the constella
ton Leo is situated, and hence they are
called Leonids to distinguish them from
other meteor streams which occur at other
times of the year. One of these other
streams is expected to produce a meteoric
shower on the night of the 9th of this
W
proceed from the constellation Andromeda
they are known as Andromedes. Thai
shower occurs once in thirteen years, and the
meteors are following the path of Biela's
comet"
Mr. Knight supplemented his paper with
short talk about the birth of comets. Mr.
Baumgardt distributed small printed chart.
OF the orbit of Venus during its next synodic
period, which will begin after December |
The chart was drawn by Mr.. Baumgardt
from calculations made by himself at an
outlay of much study and labor. After ex
planning the little chart the speaker. with
other information concerning the planets
said that in November, 1899, Mercury. Mars
Venus and Saturn will all be evening stars
at once. From computations made, Mr.
Baumgardt predicts five eclipses in the next
wear. January II and June 90 there will be
partial eclipses of the sun. In 1899 there
will be several eclipses of the moon, one Of
which will be total from Los Angeles. The
most important, however, to astronomer;
is total eclipse of the sun, which will oc
cur in May, 1900, the nearest point of totality
to this section of the Pacific coast being the
city Of New Orleans.