The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-11-03
Celestial Fireworks Display is Dl8
Very Soon.
HEAVENLY WARRANTS TO APPEAR
Periodic Return A Preliminary
ton of Shooting Stars.

On the 18th of November. says the
Boston Herald. astronomers all over
the world Will be agog over the Leo
nids. the famous November shower OF
meteors. due to meet the earth in its
orbit every 80 Il years, and so tim
ing its advent as TO give magnificent
heavenly display on November III"
of the favored years. The last great
shower was in 1856. but the history
of the swarm-for these bodies are
believed TO be a swarm of small aSsEe-
cations to cold matter-suddeniy rem
dered incandescent and visible by trIc-
| ton with the earth's atmospheIe-
shows that some of the outlying sJraS-
glers make very respectable display
for a year or two before. Last year
on November IS. there were L meJe-
ors. observed at Harvard observatory
that were identified as Leonids-or
anparentlv radiating from point IN
| the constellation Leo. There were -
observed at Blue Hill observatory. \
much larger number is expected this
| year.
According to the celestial time t2Si|'
| the great swarm viii not be here III
November II or IS, 1899. The consid-
erations which led to the determine
ton of the period are among tie most
interesting feats in obserTational as
tronomy, and have something OF a pop
ular interest, also, not usually attach
ed to astronomical work, from the fact
that not only may all see the meteors,
but persons of ordinary intelligence
| and patience may do some very credit
able observing, without special train
| ing.
| 1t was not till very recently. the
present century, in fact, that any very
They came so at random apparently,
| and disappeared so quickly from view
that an orderly system was long in the
working out The August meteors
were the first to be brought into the
mesh of astronomical laws, when num-
bers of patient observers noted that
the paths of the shooting stars, pro
duced backward, met at point IN the
constellation Perseus.
The fixing of a radiant point for the
August meteors ana the determination
| of an orbit for them was brilliant
piece of work, though contributed to
! bv a large number of observers. Fur
Their study revealed other swarms,
lamong them the Leonids, with radi-
ant point in Leo, the familiar Sickle
| of the winter sky. The radiant Is in
almost the centre OF the blade u
Sickle" considered as a part of cir
Gle. The fact mat it is a radiant point
is not very obvious at first, but map
ping of several paths and'a tracing OF
the paths backward establishes the IA
dfant very prettily.
| Some interesting points have been
discovered in connection with meteors,
one of the most important being that
a comet is travelling in the exact path
of swarm that appears in the latter
facts more or less reconcile have led
| to the supposition that meteOrs are
bits of comet, flying along by mil
Lions of millions. the remnants of a
once free, untrammelled host, flying
dark and unseen in the depths of space
! Comets have a vagrant way OF trav-
cling, as a rule, when measured by
such a small measure as the earth's
iorbit. pursuing a parabolic path, or, at
least. one that is not closed
won't come around to the same place
|again-unless something bigger comes
their way, and right there is another
interesting item about the meteors. II
one of the larger planets gets a grip
enough on swarm of meteOrs, or bits
of comet, or whatever they are. the
path is bent inward and forever
afterward their orbit is closed -
they will come around again TO the
same place # the meteOric orbit hap
pens to cross the earth's orbit. there
Will be a meteor shower on the earth.
the hitherto cold and invisible bit of
matter living for one brief moment in
binding incandescence, as it swirls
through the relatively dense atmos-
phere of the earth, and then becomes
disipated in thin gases and dust, TO
ultimately find resting place on the
earth surface.
Most of the foregoing is fairly well
established. Leverrier, French as
tronomer, in a series Of calculations.
announced that the planet Uranus
brought a swarm OF meteors within its
influence in 126. \. d. and so detected
the meteoris path that it became a
CLOSED orbit, the swarm revolving
around the sun in an elongated elipse,