Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-11-01
Nc Heavens In November.

/
body of November metsors dwarfs ev-
cry other astronomical event this
fall The splendor of Ehelr display in
1888 made so deep an impression that
they have ever since occupied a place
apart in the popular imagination as
the most gorgeous and startling of all
celestial pageants. The fact that three
of their periods measure just the span
of a century tends to add to their rep
utatlon as a spectacle Although their
returns are separated by a space of
thlrty-three years and a fraction yet
they may be seen three times in the
course of a mans life One who saw
them as a child in 1898, might have re-
glrded their fiery menace with the
cooler judgment of a middle aged man
in 1866, and, this year. may behold
again the scene that marked the start
and the turning post of his life with
ineffaceable memories of wonders in
the heavens. o..
But, while everybody hopes for a
brilliant spectacle on this occasion,
there are reasons for anticipating a
possible disappointment. In 1866 the
display, although imposing, was by no
means as wonderful as it had been in
1888 The fact that the meteors were
almost as abundant in 1867 as in 1866
showed that they were being scattered
along their path. Later investiga-
tions indicate that this scattering of
the mcteors has probably continued
ever since. The planet Jupiter, the
great preturber of the solar system,
has had his hand upon them. They
are apparently travelling in several
shoals, or parallel streams, and it may
De that when the earth crosses their
line of march it will fail to pass
through any very dense column of the
wanderers.
Yet, at the worst, it is certain that
there will be a meteoric Shower" "
Their may be only hundred, or few
hundred visible in an hour, or there
may be many thousands. One unfor-
tunate circumstance will be the pres
ence of a strong moonlight, which will
suffice to conceal many small meteors
and to rob the large ones of much of
their brilliance The maximum of the
display is generally expected soon af-
ter midnight on the morning of No
vember 16, and at that time the moon
will be within twenty-eight hours of
lie full phase. At ! o'clock a, m,
November 16, the moon will be in the
constellation Aries, about two hours
west of the meridian, while the radiant
points of the meteors, in Leo, will be
about two hours from its rising point
in the northeast.
While the best obtainable informa-
ton points to the first hour of the
morning of November 16 as the time
when the meteors will be most numer-
Gus, yet the data are so uncertain that
all observers are advised to be on the
watch forty-eight hours earlier Begin
say at midnight on the 14th and watch
until dawn. Resume watching on the
following night, and SO on until the
morning of the nth. Every watcher
for the November meteors on this oc-
casion can have the satisfaction of
| knowing that his, or her, vigil is be-
ing shared all over the civilized world,
by thousands of the brightest spirits,
which now inhabit the earth. The So
luton of the mystery of the November
meteors will stand, in the perspective
of a thousand years, high among the
achievements of man.
The watch for the meteors will inc
yitably call many unaccustomed eyes
to the starry heavens and luckily the
constellation in view includes several
of the finest. Like the meteors, how
ever, the stars will suffer from the eff
fulgence of the moon. At midnight in
the middle of November the eastern
half of the armament is especially
beautiful. Nearly overhead glitters
the Pleiades, a silvery swarm. A lit
tie eastward appears the V-shaped fig
ure of Hyades, containing the red
Aldebaran, marking the eye of the
great bull Taurus which the imagina-
ton of the constellation makers pic
tured in the act of charging down up
on the giant hunter Orion. The latter
appears below Hyades, toward the
southeast, the uplifted lions skin
marked by curving stream of small
stars, being interposed between the
hunter and the bull. Two brilliant
stars, the brighter Betelgeuse, of an
orange tine, being the farther east,
mark Orions broad shoulders A
sparkling group above indicates his
head. His beautiful belt, symbolized
by three fine stars in a straight row,
next catches the eye, while below the
belt a splendid lone star, Rigel, shines
in the giants upraised foot.-Scientific
American.
WHO CAN FILL THE OFFICE OF
PROBATE JUDGE BETTER THAN
C. H. NIXON? NO ONE. HE HAS
THE QUALIFICATIONS IN ABUND-
ANCE AND WILL MAKE A GOOD