Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-19
RECENT METEORIC SHOWERS
Father Rigge, g. j., of Creighton Univer-
sity Writes About the L:onids.
MODE OF OBSERVING SHOOTING STARS
origin, orbits, Nature, Number, Nc-
Iocity md Movement-Instruct-
Ave and Entertaining Article on
These Celestial Phenomena.

There is always an unusual interest attach
Ing to celestial phenomena, especially &c
those OF falling stars. Even at this late day
In the worlds history, many in every grade
OF society are strangely prone to couple
these aerial displays with some dire portent
some omen OF i'll to the individuals or people
who may happen to witness them or among
whom they occur. This superstition Is prob
ably grounded primarily upon the fact that
from the standpoint OF our planet and OF our
observation these visitations appear to be
from above, from the home assigned In popu-
lar conceit to the Divinity who shapes the
destiny of men and worlds. Much, too, oil
this weird sentiment and tradition is born OF
the memory, in the immediate neighborhood
Of these apparitions, of catastrophes or mis-
fortunes attributed in the popular ignorance
and msconstruction OF celestial phenomena,
to these shooting or falling stars, as to fore
runners or heralds OF evil.
There Is of course no natural connection
between atmospheric or other phenomena
and the evils which overtake those who wit
ness them. Yet the character of these phe-
nomena Is often such as to justify in every
way the extraordinary feelings with which
mankind has all along observed their strange
and unannounced appearance in the heavens.
1neTe lb bOulelHluB AMIN W thc dppohhhS III
the spectacle OF mighty comet sweeping
across the heavens of a clear and moonless
night. A total, or, under favorable crcum-
stances, even partial eclipse of the sun is
SO potent over the tenants of our planet
that the very animals exhibit strange and
unusual signs Nature seems to pause and
observe in myriad ways this extraordinary
function in which the earth, the sun and
moon enact so mysterious roles. Sun spots,
rings around the moon, the aurora borealis
or the northern lights, the milky way, even
aereolites and a score of other interesting
phenomena have been the wonder and delight
or dread of the world from the beginning.
But none of these apparitions has so set
the unintiated to thinking or so amazed
the world, causing dread to good and bad
alike, as the phenomena of falling stars.
Falling Stars.
AS far back nearly as man can remember
he has been observing and interpreting the
phenomena of falling stars 1t was not
however, until astronomy began to command
a complete survey of all the avenues Of space
that the nature of these falling bodies was
sufficiently understood.
Isolated stars or even groups or trains OF
stars and meteors had been observed as far
back as the time of the Egyptian astrono-
mers But 1T was not until 1888 that the at
tention of the astronomical world was called
to this shower of meteors that fell into our
atmosphere last Wednesday and Thursday
nights. In 1888 this star-rain appears to
have been exceptionally snowy in North
America. Extending from the Gulf to Hall
fax, the sky was scored in every direction
with shining tracks and illuminated with
majestic fire balls. At Boston, it is said the
meteors were about half as many fakes
of snow in an average snow storm. In this
neighborhood and on this occasion, after the
first fury of the shower had passed, and on
the basis of a much-diminished rate, upward
OF 240, 900 stars were computed to have fallen
in nine hours.
From the date of this star-fall in 1888
the study of luminous meteors became an
integral part of astronomy AS first result
OF the observations made upon these meteors
at that time one remarkable feature was seen
They all appeared to come from the same
part Of the sky, from a point in the con-
stellation Leo. Olmstead showed that this
point, or radiant, as 1t is called, proved that
the meteors approached the earth along
parallel lines and that those parallel lines
must be sections of an orbit or orbits de-
scribed by the meteors round the sun
and intersecting the orbit Of the earth.
Periodical Recurrences of Showers.
Prof. Hubert A. Newton of Yale in 1864
by an extended search through the astral
records Of the past reaching as far back as
9Oz a. D-the year of the stars-further