The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-08-06
IlleteOr Showers
Ensssu Is ssAeanlsa .
Elake Psegk RAaer.nltk

II
neteOrie showers. All they have heon
able to see hitherto was an occasional
scared meteor dashing across the say
| for distance q about two feel
/ This yeer the SCIENTISTS are aeain~out
| With a prediction OF meteor3c showers -
August end Novensber. Meteors sppesf-
ed IN thousands IN lSss lSs7 aud fSSS e.
ed in thousands IN iSss. 1851 and fseS ana
Professor ssmOn Neweomb. they usually
reappear I'm a cycle OF thirty-three years.
some extraordinary Nocturnal treats of
these wonderful heavenly fireworks will
probably be seen during the coming faiL
Igueous mereors consist Of shooting
stars OF falling stars. star showers. Do
lldes OF hreIballS. aeroIltes or rneteorftes
and kindred bodies to such. VINO aas noe
often seen a bright. Star-sEke point %
light suddenly appear inthe sky. move
rapidly several degrees IN a rlgfR Elne
across the heavenS and as suddenly dis-
appear. the whole flight lasting usually
only a Fraction Of secondg Tfss 3
what II known as n shooting star. There
are regular showers OF these shooting
stars every year On August s-i1 Two
/ or three hundred of them have been seen
/ In an hour They radiate from the con-
steliation Perseus. and are hence called
Perxieds. The comet Of 1859 - said co
have an orbit which cuts the earth's or
| bit at 4 point where the earthis on Aug
! uSt 10. and a stream % igneous moieors
Is assumed 20 move with this GOMEZ.
/ Hence the meteors Of August.
! In 1855 comet % short period. namely
/ tho Biela comet. was observed "a hsgve
separated into two parts about iso.ool
miles from each other. Since then these
parts have never been seen. PrOfeSsor
Newcomb SAYS that the earth's orolt
came very close 60 this comets orbit. the
earth crossing the comets Path AZ first
early in December. but afterward. owing
to the action OF Jupiter on the comet. IN
November
shooting stars" he adds. were seen
in considerable numbers on DeeembeF Z.
I7sS. and December s. iSsS. and at the lat
ter time were observed to radiafk from
Andromeda: they are hence called An
dromedes. From this point 81 the sky
any me;eorite travelling along the o-hsa
OF the Biela comets. and coming into the
air. would seem 10 radIate. On November
"a. and q. is72. large numbers % An
dpomedes were seen In Europe and An
erica. forming. on November q. a star
shower OF brilliant character. The whole
forms q stream. more or lees interusit-
tent. hundreds - millions OF miles In
length"
Many OF our November meteors seem
10 follow inthe wake % Biela'a extra
ordinary sundered comet. n IL generally
conceded that for most Of our igaeoua
meteors some comet or another T. respon-
sible
OF the meteors with radiate from the
constellation Leo. and are consequently
called Leonlds. Americas greatest as
trunonner says: ''The denscr part of tire
,stream r. travrrsed by The earth In from
one TO three hours. wnt.h Implies an
actual thickness az FROM - 90 10 500oo
miles. II takes three or four years Tor
the stream % pass the node which i'm
plies length % many hundreds 81 nil
lions % miles The breadth in its nwn
plane Is unknown. The numbers ON per
minute in the middle ofihe brighter %
these star showers imply that the me-
teor0ids have inihe centre. a. they travel
through space, mean distance from
their ncirhhsrH OF from twenty-five 10
hfty miles"
Many 81 us have heard from either 0tfr
fathers or our rrandfathers. - the ex-
tFanrdinary star shower which occurred
from about O'Clock until daylight On
the morning ~ November n fs1z ~ 49,
especially brilliant I'm Virginia and North
Carolina Early rirer= awnks their
uriehiors With tho news that the stars
were falling from every direction around
them. and that the cnd - time had cer-
tainly rurne TTiis Is the shpWof asis
again next November. and IN November
Of next year. and nsst - thea we're The
TseonIne ueteors already men;fonei TIE
very important ran WIS Noticed thai.
wherever the observer nigh, BE-. the
path ~ tho uletcors across the sky wera
always directed from point IN che con-
striIatipn Iep ard that this point keDt
its place among ths-rtars. notWithstsnd-
ing the earsh's rotation TITS could be
explained only. says Prpfez@nr New
comb. by assuming that Tho paths %
the rneteors through tho sir Scrs straight
lines parallel go each ether. ani Wsrs
directed from the constellation Lro: Aiso
that the meteor were a. cosmicai not -
terrestrial origin 90
Shooting starr are not seen higher
than about ia0 miles from the earth. ara
they rarely corns tower than tfirfy miles.
unless they Send down fragments They
nre % all degrees q brightness. Rosns
are - faint fhaf one boxing at fh~sa
cannot h. quite certain thai bs.ses- any
thing. and some are visiAlo only ,hrspxh
a tslesrps~ tSb~rs may - hrightsr
than the pla-ess - even than the nBosa.
Thee are ths ''isoii8s@~ o. hrs-saiis-of.
a. on -rfis-ru term them. ~ryina dFa-
CONS Thcy have been seen ~ fgii daY.
liRht. TIE iafzer hrn-baila often sE-
pio5e into fragments So paris esassnS
1ne another srr0ss The zhy % -cafseFfnz
IN different dirccft1rn u so11e caen tsT-
-iac srpi1,siofss. - q distant and n8.n-
sr1us cannon. are head ali assr tha re-
-iDn q Few fn3ruses Scr The diaappraf-
zrcsvS the body The-e are kngRn as
dstonatiuh fne;egru. AID frnn fheus az
times cgnas down stray fraSm~rts. 49,
'erirE tiI.n5ssiEs~ ever a rsxtsg miles IN
rxfsnt AM usually striking - Erouaf
WITH f1roe enough . bsry fh~Fns~isss
yns ~ to fss,f o. the sssrfh Thee frsE-
-nsnis are Hytast ~ call seFpissrs - re-
ls-Yrsses one = 80 rat pecsifag =
rsrent fails 2 rHet~,T4se~ sas fsat %
iowa On Fs.1rusrY y - ManT frsE-
usefts IA ar snr1s Eve hunfrsi Syaf=1s.
Eere se-cgref- u 20 ous fsii n usrF1zs~y
-ou-sir. onss, ia broaa dsyNRht. and
-aoss-3 = graz ssEEaH1n. ths sEe9feBez:
wing snhsnosi ~ siss tsrTtsr rear shssh
attended 49, ds-1sns - re a-rtai yzssto-.
re eonetsrrsssLos csassd ~ lhs fe~a
al 49, afu70st s-a.iar - Ehas snsst
savs s--ro fha .-,sasstsrratioa = 49, nss
Org szafast y ~ Jc~tssa sas hxh.inx
a