Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-11-09
Miseellaneuus 8saaias.
WHEN THE STAR RAIN FALLS.
The leonid Shower Of Meteors Now
Is Due.

Is Due.
The stars are due to fall on tn
nights Of November 1914, a fixture II
the celestial schedule Of events. Their
Is a secular change in the period o
this particular display, a slow move
ment along the calendar, but 1t Is onl!
in the progress of many years that th'
alteration Of the period amounts to 81
much as may be measured by single
night. Last years display fixes th'
date for this year for many years t.
come.
The November meteors will scarcel!
be at their best this year. In fact th'
earth cuts their orbit at perhaps 1T
most sparsely studded spot Thi'
shower has a period roughly CORES
ponding to the generations Of human
life, roughly computed as three to th'
century. The last great display wa!
due in 1899, but 1t was a disappoint'
ment when compared with former
manifestations Of this periodic max
imum.
This year the earth crosses the orbi
of this belt of minuscule members o.
the solar system at a point ten years
away from the maximum density
about a third Of the circuit OF tha
orbit The prospects, therefore, are tha
the display will not approach anything
like the brilliance that from time tc
time has been observed. On the othel
hand the exhibition, chiefly in the ear
ly morning hours Of Nov. IA, should
far exceed the count Of the wandering
stars which blaze for a moment almost
every night, silent flights Of cold in
candescence.
The penultimate display was great
show in the skies. 1t was spread ovel
three years, the peak Of its magnifi-
cence in 1866, a heavy fall in 1857 and
what might be called smart shower
even in 1868.
But the 1888 rain Of the heavens was
most astounding. The eastern seaboard
was most advantageously situated fol
observation on the night Of November
1918. The stars fell as fast and thick
as flakes Of snow on a winter day
Prof. Olmsted reckoned that 240,00(
cleaning trains were visible in the
course Of nine hours. To the ignorant
it presaged the crack Of doom, the be-
ginning of the rolling up Of the heav-
ems like a scroll.
There yet live those who saw the
rain Of fire and who can describe how
in every countryside the unlearned
people sought the fields and passed the
night in agony Of fear, with prayer and
supplication. To the faithful it was q
night Of terror, to those whom hope had
abandoned a night Of frenzy Of wild
excess.
Such scenes were repeated, with va
riations according to the nature Of the
population, all the way from Nova Sco-
tia to the Gulf Of Mexico. 1t spoke
we'll for the moral fibre Of the several
communities that their terror sought 8
religious awakening, for it was in the
era Of the great unrest, the period OF
the great unsettling out Of which arose
so many new religions, that fever OF
new faiths.
If such it was among the ignorant
far otherwise among the learned. From
the star rain Of 1888 dates the begin.
ming Of all intelligence Of these recur.
ring phenomena. The astronomers
not mad nor undevout, but keen ir
their zeal to carry on the observations
to whatever end might come-for ther
they had no knowledge one whit above
the multitude praying in the field:
with dervish howlings-then frs
found the key to the riddle Of these
visitations from the universe beyond
our worlds husk Of air.
To their trained eyes these rowing
streaks Of light were not haphazart
tracery upon the dome Of night. Each
ball Of fire followed a course all Its
own. Their tracks seemed aimed al
every spot in the bounding horizon
Some even were seen to mount upward
to the zenith and beyond upon the dis.
tant vaulted slope. Patiently the OBJ
servers laid down upon the celestial
chart each track as they were able tc
pick 1t from the tangle Of crisscross
embroidery Of light.
Thus in patient record did they ar
rive at the great discovery, fundamen-
tai to all later knowledge. Projecting
each track upon the chart as 1t was
determined by the we'll known star;
athwart which it moved, extending
each track backward against its direc-
ton Of motion, 1t was found that the
area of general intersection cores
ponded most closely with the point ir
the remoter heavens marked by the
star Zeta Leonis. The radiant point
had been found and delimited in space
Henceforth this November star show
er was to be known as the Leonids, the
lion cubs. This was the beginning OF
the shooting stars, and it dates from
1888, science calmly at work in the
tumult of a world turned upside down
The next preceding shower has ar
initial Importance bearing upon this
discovery Of the radiant point. In the
early morning Of November IL, 1899, al
Cumana, Humboldt had witnessed g
fire storm in the skies, and with his
wide backward gaze he reached the
conclusion that these meteors observ-
ed a period and that the study Of the
records Of the past could be made tc
discover the length of the period
Three times in every century the No.
vember skies have set the stage fol
the great pyrotechnics of the heavens
A great display was recorded wher
Ibrahim, the second Of the Aglabid.
lay dying before Coscenza and awaiting
the coming Of Sheitan to take him t
the punishment of his many crue
deeds. All night long the rain of stars
the torrent of meteors, brought terror
to the faithful of one faith whose mon
arch lay dying, terror to the faithful
Of an older faith covering behind thei
city walls. This was the night Of Oc
tober 19, 902. From this date it Il
eaSy to reckon the slow periodic