Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-11-17

InlS week there promises to be
display of heavenly pyrotechnics
which will discount any fourth of July,
peace jubilee, or election Notification
held during this century. Any stu
| dent of astronomy or heavenly geog-
raphy knows that November is the one
| month of the year when there is likely
! to be more than the ordinary number
of meteOrs or shooting stars. The
night Of November Is, 1883, as any cid
timer will verify, the meteors fell so
| fast that those who did not under
stand the phenomenon said that ail
| the stars fell from heaven. and the
end of the world was thought to be
/ close at hand. 1t did not come that
| year, and has not come yet, as a mat
| ter of fact
While the phenomena are by no
means rare it is only three times a
! century that the display is of such re-
| markable brilliancy as to cause world
| wide comment and to become histori-
cal. AS there was an unusually bril-
liant display of meteors in 1888, and
one Of scarcely less repute the year be
|
one almost as great the following year.
| The year when the phenomena will at
| tain their greatest splendor in this
third of the meteoric century will most
| likely be 1899, not 1898. However, it
| the nights are clear the first of this
week, it will be worth anyone's while
| to watch for falling stars.
ic n n
! that there is a group of heavenly
! bodies, called by astronomers "aero-
lites, which is travelling around the
! sun along with the grand procession
| of other &C. es tial pilgrims. There are
many such groups, but the grand, Dig
one is so timed that it comes in con-
! tact with the orbit of the earth My
every 33 years, and in the month of
November. This group of aerolites
! resembles a big dust cloud, or sand
| storm, with the individual members
! bearing about the same relation to
! each other as grains of sand 30 feet
! from every other grain of sand. ne
/ group is shaped something like
| leech, and is in round number 1,0O0,-
| 100000 miles long. 1t travels at enc
! rate Of 10000 miles a second, at which
| rate it requires more than two years
! for it to pass a given point Inc
earth's orbit comes in contact with
, the head of this procession OF aerohtas
| this November; next November 1t Will
| strike it about midShips, or little aft
| of the main mast; and there is pos
sibility that the heavenly procession
will still be in the way Of the earth
in the year 1900, in which case there
will be a shower of meteors that year.
Do not think that these heavenly
grains of sand are blazing hot as they
float merrily onward at their 10000
mile-a-second gait. They are only
great masses of magnetic iron ore,
mixed with more or less rocky mater
| ial, and do not burn until they come
| in contact with the upper strata OF the
earths atmosphere. Passing so swift
| ly through the atmosphere, and at
tracted by the superior mass of the
earth until they travel still faster,
| they become hot and still hotter, until
! they are great glowing sparks. The
| heat is the same as that generated by
driving a steel nail through a hard
| board, or firing one of Uncle Sans g.
inch projectiles through the armor OF
a Spanish war ship.
Astronomers have noted the pass
age of this group of aerolites for more
| than LOO years. 1t is mentioned fire.
| Quently n NEUROLOGICAL stories, and
there is good foundation for the belief
| that it is meant in the bible, where it
| is recorded that the Lord sent great
stones down from heaven upon the en-
emies Of Israel. In any event, this
| November is to be one Of falling stars.
! There will be no moon to counteract
| the effect of the meteoric display, and
! if the nights are clear there will be a
display worth waiting a third of a
century to see.
| ParadoXiCal as it may seem, 1t is the
! terrific speed Of the aerolite that rem
! ders IL harmless to the inhabitants OF
! the earth. The tremendous velocity
with which the non-luminous missiles
smite the higher and less dense strata
of the atmosphere generates fric-
| tional heat that melts and burns the
! invaders from cold space. If thay
should come at more moderate pace
they would escape destruction them
selves and crash through the most
powerful structures human skill has
ever devised, wreaking death and ruin.
This shower invaded the earth's
atmosphere November Ia, and
at night will be visible in all
parts of the United States. provided
clouds do not obscure the vision.
There will be no moonlight to dim tie
brightness of their fiery fight. Early
in the night the meteors will be seen
in instanteous flashes shooting up, p
parently, out of the eastern horizon;
at midnight they will appear scurry-
ing across the sky in lateral motion
from east to west; but the finest ris-
play will be in that darkest hour that
is just before dawn, when they will
appear as coming from directly over
head, radiating in all directions as if
from an unquenchable vortex of fire.
THORNY path FOR REED