New-York tribune., 1899-11-17

Thursday morning with the intention OF pnoto-
graphing shooting stars, II any could be detecteu'
Mr. Lembke was accompanied by MS soh' 'A !.
Hoist Of the Goerz Photographic Company Vi
Berlin; Otis Wattes well known photographic
expert, and Charles Vogel. Not having observer
a solitary meteor up to a. m' the parry AZ '
hour adjourned sine die.
Mr. Tenohke had set I'D a fine GoerZ camera on
what astronomers call an equatorial mounting
This enabled him to keep the Instrument locuSSeu
with precision, on a given region IN the shies' III
we'll equipped astronomical observatories camera
is moved by clockwork. The apparatus useo OH
Tuesday by Mr. Lembke included slow motion
screw" with the aid Of which the operators hand
could nerform the task OF cockwork. accuracy
I'm following the fixed stars In their march across
the sky being attained by sighting through the
tiny telescope finder mounted on the same
tripod.
Al princeton wednesday night many students
stayed out OF bed until long after midnight. FOR
the benefit of those who retired early the bell on
The old North Church and the fire bells rang at
n m the hour at which, according to Dr. Johh-
stone Stoney the English expert the shower was
expected to occur Professor Young set up MS pno-
tographic instruments near his observatory 70 oo-
tain views of meteors but no photographs were
taken OF the few stray ones seen. PROFESSOR LID
how went q few miles into the country to photo
granh meteors. and no report has yet been re-
ceived from him.
A somewhat better story comes from Harvard
Fifty Leonids were noticed. The watchers a, az
meteors OF which sixty-nine came from Leo. IN n
Chicago thirty meteors were seen AT DensSL ~
Were Observed. Carleton College Northhed; Mnn.
reports twenty the whole nights record -.
are at Charles A. Posts Observatory at
Bayport, Long Island, watching for the show shower OF
terdav morning. when the sky cleared for the first
time since the earth came INTO the %
nhotographs were obtained Fifty-nine meteors in
all counted in the morning only one OF h
meteors sighted exploded, and few LETT traits Fro-
fessor Rees said that he feared III the fsres
and that 1t to be hoped that Observers IN otner
parts OF the world had had better success: had ad
said there was a possibility that the showers mao
Gable dispatches from Europe indicate that few lev
Iantic on two or three successive evenings this this
Bat Is hs been neans at at any az Of
points reporting their observations. In lndia ho'n'
Fat least four possible explanations of the fail.
may be sHggesed said hs an RToovn 9SeI OF Inst
DepartmehIt Ie conceeabe OF % though not
probable. that the Leonid swarm has been sc So
hat there r" Was almost nothing left run into th;
year Or It may be that the SIZE ana % eehsy o.
the swarm are unmpared but ha d nSs Was nr ass
over the earths orbit at the intersection I'M TN;
theory Se 6 be 0"'
Thirdly. the earth may have met the swarm
but OF such an hour that some other part OF tht
earth than America Europe faced the lombard
ment The meteors may have fallen as abundantiy
| in Asia or the Pacific Ocean this time as they die
in the United States in 1888 and 1866. II this be true
| the fac. will soon become known. doubtless.
"Finally. II is possible that the main swarm nat
| reached that point It must be remembered tina
the perod Of this shower and or the related come
is not precisely thirythree years. but little more
| than that. 1t is not unreasonable to Imagine tina
| the swarm NAV be from six months to year II
| reaching the intersection OF the two orbits. AnC
nasmuch the procession is known to be stretched
| tion OF II may yet be crossing the line when th
| earth comes to the meeting point next November
| There is chance that the real shower Is merel!
j