The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1899-11-01
A GREAT SHOWER OF STARS
THE EXPECTED METEORIC DIS
PLAY.
The Heavens Will be Aglow With
Thousands of Meteors-The Rrag-
ments OF Great Comet.

), On the night Of November Ia one G
y the grandest spectacles ever offere
g by the heavens will be witnessed her
t In the form of gre at fall of Metee
a rites, They are known as Leouids an
their dazzling performance, which oc
r ours only once in every thirty-thre
years, will be plainly visible in Soutl
Carolina.
: In this wonderful display the meteo
rites will touch the atmosphere of tn,
earth and become ignited by th
: rapidtty of their flight Millionc O
them will fall and they will appear a
f dazzling globes of multi.colored flame
The fact that they ignite and dissoly,
on contact with the atmosphere 4
all that saves the earth from destruc
tion.
Scientists all over the w..!d are
making elaborate preparations for OBJ.
serving the appearance Of the Leonids
This century has been the first thai
astronomers have discovered the cause
OF the great November meteoric
shower IL was Tempel who fuunG
That the Leonids are fragments OF q
former comet.
Reckoned by the figures of the hesy.
ems the Leonlds are but infants. Ac.
cording to Prof. Simon Newcomb, Tenn.
peps comet has been dead only thirty
three hundred years. The cause OF
the explosion was the heat generated
by the rate at which the comet re-
Volved as 1t tore through space. The
sight, as the great fiery BODY burst
into million molten fragments, must
have been grand and awful beyond the
powers of human comprehension.
But for the fragments of the burn
Ing body there could be no rest. The
q ht,f ~al@
drew the larger body through countless
ages along certain path we're at work
also among the shattered flying parti.
cles. They fell into line. The largest
fragments forged to the front and the
smaller particles fell in behind for a
million miles and more. The unend-
Ing Journey, Interrupted for while,
was taken up again along the old path.
The course of Tempels comet, and
OF LIS subsequent fragments. complete
ly encircies the orbit OF the earth,
touching 1t at one place only on its
outer edge. Once only in thirty. three
years does Tempels comet complete its
ORBIT, and once only do the fragments
CT the dead comet, myriads in number,
trail across the orbit OF the earth.
When this does happen, however, mil
lions OF these PARTICLES are drawn from
the orbit and fall into the atmosphere
OF the earth with an effect which
dazzles the spectators.
The single meteor or meteorite that
makes when 1t strikes the earth's at
mosphere the so.called shooting star
Is mere tramp OF the heavens. 1t is
detached fragment of some shatter-
gu planet, and 1T wanders more or less
at random through space until it comes
within the circle OF attraction Of some
larger hO1U whap fu 20
fall In the course of it's descent
through the atmosphere the meteorite
generates so much heat that it is en-
tlrely consumed ; the meteor, being
larger, continues on and strikes the
earth.
Occasionally the heat generated by
the meteor is so great that it bursts
before coming in contact with any
solid substa ce. In such q case 1t Is
termed a fire-ball. But neither the
single meteorite nor the meteor can be
observed by the telescope or by the
naked eye except at the brilliant mo.
ment of it's death.
But the comet Is a creature OF the
skies more to be reckoned with. Ezra
Tic as Its wanderings may seem to the
uniearned, In reality 1t pursues de-
unite course among the more regular
orbits OF the stars. The length OF the
orbit which it travels varies from the
comparatively small distance of few
hundred millions to one that reaches
into the thousands of billions. The
tlme which different comets take in
mpleting their orbits varies from
three and half to q hundred thousand
years. The preciseness Of astronomi-
cal knowledge is such tn At the exact
rate per second of the bovement Of
thnSR hn1ipa hn 1aA,,p, ,ioo 4
the time at which they will arrive at
any given point Of theiSor bits can be
predicted to the second.S
Regarding the approaching ,neteoric
display Prof. William A. Har6 ress,
who is in charge Of the astronomical
department. of the United States gov
ernment naval observatory, said:
We are unable to predict the exact
hour at which the November meteoric
showers will begin. From the best
present estimates it may be expected
that the showers will reach maxi
mum at q. m. on the morning of the
18th OF November. They will probably
! begin three or four hours earlier than
this to.fall in small bursts. They will
continue throughout the morning of
the 18th of November and will be more
or less observable during the evenings
and mornings of the 18th, 10th and 17th
of November, although on each sue
ceeding day the number OF meteors OBJ
servable will diminish.
| "These meteors and meteorites vary
10 weight from few grains to many
pounds. They strike the earth's at
mosphere at a height Of seventy.four
miles and begin to burn, being entirely
consumed when they are at height
of fifty miles.
1.-THE phenomenon OF q great me-
teorio shower Is generally a perfectly
noiseiess one. When the streak is fl t
formed 1t is narrow and perfectly
straight, but soon becomes serpentine
and assumes an irregular figure as 1t
drifts along under the influence OF the
wind currents In the upper region OF
the atmosphere. These streaks or
trails are OF various colors, owing part
ly to the composition Of their elemen.
tary substances and partly to their
altitude. Some are Of q delicate
greenish hue, while others light up
the skies with @ ruddy glow. Streak:
of orange, red and white, with blush
white, commingle to form most re
markable and beautiful spectacle. Oc'
casionally an orange colored meteor
may be observed, leaving in its wake 9
streak of green.