Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-10
METEOR|C DISPLAY
One Scheduled to Take Place Thurs
day Morning Next.
PROBABLY A BRILLIANT SPECTACLE
Preparations for Observing the Event
by Government Officials.
FORMER SIMILAR SHOWERS


may disappoint the awaiting astronomers.
absolutely no certainty in the prediction.
As far as the officials of the observatory
will go in their forecast is to state that the
tri-centenniai fall Of the stars is due and
should take place about the time specified.
Whether light heavy cannot be told If
the meteoric bodies have continued on the
circular orbit they are popularity supposed
to travel, their schedule calls for drop IN
Washington next week. While all indica-
tions and mathematical calculations place
the shower early Thursday morning, it may
put IN an appearance one or two days
earlier.
Preparations have been made at the OBJ
servatory to watch the display, and the
vigil of the officers there will begin Monday
night and continue until it is certain the
shower is at an end. Prof. William Hank
ness of the United States navy, the astro-
e nomical director of the naval observatory,
will be in charge. and expects to secure
some valuable information on the meteor
and its peculiarities. A feature of the OBJ
servations this year, one distinguishing
them from all former records, will be the
attempt at photographing the more bril-
liant of the meteors as they speed across
the heavens, their fiery tails flaming a cir
cu1ar path With the rapid progress made
in photography during the past third of a
y, IL
pictures may be secured.
Time Not Favorable.
Should the meteoric shower occur at the
expected time the conditions will be about
as bad as possibly could be the case, for
the reason that at o'clock Thursday morn
ing next the moon will be just past fullness
and will be but one hour west of the meri-
dian. Mooniit nights are almost invariably
screens all stars of less than the fourth
magnitude. Under these circumstances only
the brighter meteors will be seen, the many
thousands of smaller bodies making their
journey unobserved All meteoric observa-
lions are made with the naked eye, their
excessive rapidity in flight precluding the
use of a glass of any great power.
While there are annual meteoric displays
of small proportions, there have been in the
past exceptionally heavy falls about every
thirty three and a fraction years The last
occurred in 1867 when Prof. Hardness
made observations at Richmond, Va. At
that time the moon was quite bright and
only the larger meteors were seen. He
estimates thae at times the meteors were
falling at the rate of 1850 per hour This
estimate he belives to be far below the
actual truth on account Of the inability to
observe the many meteors of only spark
Ike brillancy.
1t was directly after the meteoric shower
of 1893 that Prof. H. A. Newton, an emf
Gent records in the endeavOr to get bit of
history on the subject. He found that more
than a dozen showers of great magnitude
had been noted since the year 800 A. d. In
all cases the interval between was about
thirty-three and a quarter years. From
the facts thus gained Prof. Newton deduced
that meteors must travel in an orbit al
most circular in form and one-third of a
century in length. The infrequency of the
great displays has prevented the gathering
of any large amount of certain knowledge
When the stars fell was an historic pc
Rod in the old days, especially in the
south, where it served as a means of fix
ing dates of various occurrences.
Prof. Harkness' Comment.
In speaking of the expected display of
rext Thursday morning, Prof. Hardness
said today:
The plan pursued at the L. S. naval
observatory for recording the tracks of me-
teors is as follows: Each officer is provided
with suitable star map. When he sees a
meteor ne observes carefully its path among
the stars, and at once, turning TO his map,
he finds the same stars on it, and draws
the track in pencil in the same relative po-
sition to them that it occupied in the heav-
ems. The right ascension and declination of
the beginning and end of each track is sub
sequently read off from the map and tabu-
lated.
in the case of a large meteor, of course,
the description will embrace all the partic-
HiafS mentioned ABOVE, Dut II the mete0rS
are small and numerous, 1t will plainly be
Impossible to describe each so mi
nutely. Then 1t will be best to trace on a
map as many of their tracks possible,
noting the time of appearance of each, and
TO give genera! account of the shower.
including all the points mentioned. 1t will
also be necessary to state the time of be-
ginning and ending Of the shower, and the
time when it reached its height. This can
he best determined by counting and record
ing the number of meteors that fall in each
consecutive ten minutes.
"Whenever meteors are numerous it will
be noticed that if we ina CINE their tracks
to be produced backward In the heavens
they will all intersect at a common point
This is the radiant point, and its exact pO-
sition is of such great importance that no
observer should fail TO determine 1t as ac-
curately as possible.
"rhe principal meteoric showers take
place annually on the nights of the 9th
10th and 11tb of August and of the 18th
or 13:h of November. 1t is now also pretty
well ascertained that meteoric showers also
take paee annually on or about the nights
of April % and December 10. An unusual
number of neteors may also be looked for
on the following dates: January Is to 10,
February 80 March ] to 4, April % to 20,
October is to Is and October 81 to Novem-
Der 6. An August shower never attains the
brlliancy which is sometimes displayed by
the November one, but it is much more GER
tain in It's recurrence.
The Possibilities.
Should the shower develop into hoped
for proportions it will be sight rare in
deed for despite the unfavorable circum-
stance of mid-sky moon, the meteors of
beautiful magnitude and characteristics
nay be easily seen. Trains or tails of fire
are often observed while some are but or
binary shooting stars. In some instances
luminous track is left behind to undulate
and float away, or remain fixed until it
gradually fades into nothing. The pretu-
esq meteors are those resembling the SPLEEN
dor of the largest rockets, with long tails
of flame in red and green colors.
While the great display is expected to
take place either next Wednesday or Thurs
day morning at l o'clock, there would be
no surprise at the observatory if 1t did not
occur. Meteors are unreliable and without
scruples
Nj. J. NJ. Thompson of 1927 14th street,
writing to The Star, suggests that 1t would
be a public benefaction If the persons who
have charge of bells and steam whistles
would keep watch and give notice of the
arrival Of the rOeteorc showers nv means