Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1918-05-02
Tracing the Fall of a Meteor.

1890 o'clock at night, many people il
Texas were startled by brilliant me
teor which flew blazing through the SIX!
and exploded, the explosion being fol
lowed in a few minutes by sounds like
thunder, which in some places made
windows and dishes rattle with the vi
bration. At some points the light o.
the meteor was described by observer:
as binding, says writer in the Wash
ington Times.
Science is still much in the dark
about meteors, or meteorites, but il
everybody who sees one would adopt
the course pursued in the case of this
Texas phenomenon by ]. A. Udden, oil
Austin, our knowledge about them
might be rapidly increased. Mr.. I'd
den decided to run this particular me-
teor down, to catch it in geometrical
net, and thus find out where it hit the
earth, for hit the earth it evidently did
even though reduced to fragments be-
fore reaching the ground.
Mr.. Udden briefly describes the
method he used and its results in
Science He obtained from about three
in all quarters of the State, notes OF
in al quarters of the State, notes OF
what thew had seen. Among the points
covered by these notes were the direc-
tons in which the meteor appeared to
move across the heavens as seen by the
different observers.
When these directions were plotted
on map Of Texas, most interesting
fact at once stood forth, that, namely,
they all converged toward a certain
part of the State in or near Kimble
county. Consequently it must be some
where within that area that the meteor
or its fragments may sometime be
found.
Observers in the western part OF the
State saw the meteor moving eastward;
those in the eastern and central
counties saw it moving westward !;
those in north saw it moving south
ward, and those in the south saw it
moving northward. Thus it betrayed
its true objective point on the earth,
although to each observer it seemed to
be darling in straight line through the
sky with a downward trend owing to
perspective. Careful comparison OF
the observation as to brightness, situa-
ton in the heavens, apparent length of
path, etc., showed that the mysterious
body, while descending at a consider
able angle to the horizon, was also
moving from northeast to southwest.
1t is evident that the line of descent
must have been steep, owing to the
diametrical reversal of the apparent
direction of flight as seen from stations
only one or two hundred miles apart.
By study and combination of OBJ
servations the height of meteors, at
various points in their course, can be
inferred with considerable accuracy.
The height at which they usually make
their first appearance, which depends
upon the incandescence caused by their
friction with the air, varies from 80 to
100 miles. Their average speed is 70
miles per second before their strike
into the atmosphere.
This speed shows that they are re-
volving in orbits about the sun, and are
accidentally encountered by the earth.
The great mystery about them concerns
their origin. Some are almost solid
iron, with always small percentage of
nickel, and others are of stony nature.
All are hard, dense bodies. The puzzle
is to account for their density and for
other peculiarities of their constitution.
Although it cannot by any means be
regarded as a demonstrated fact, yet
there are many considerations which
support the supposition that they are
fragments of an exploded planet"
They seem to bear the stamp of a
world that was once massive enough
to compress their minerals into the
state in which they are found when
they fall upon the earth. Astronomers
were once disposed to believe that
they had discovered the former loca-
ton of such a world, between the or
bits of Mars. and Jupiter, but that
theory has never been generally &C
cepted which, however, is no proof
that it may not be substantially true.