New Britain herald., 1928-08-10

Washington, Aug. 10-The earth is about to keep it's annual date with Perseids and anyone who cares to stay up until after midnight on the night Of August Il has a good chance Of getting an eyefull.
 On that night, one is certain. ac- cording to the astronomers, to ob- serve a brilliant shower of shooting stars. One can see meteors on other nights in the year, but the show put on by the Perseids is the big gest and most brilliant of all.
 This way and that, they shoot; almost horizontally.
 It is also the most regular, for one may see it every year as the earth passes through the cluster of meteoric fragments, revolving in space.
 We have been passing through this area since the early part Of July. The meteors are quite nu- merous from August 5 to 10 and August 1o-13 always produces large numbers of flaming Perselds, es- pecialiy after midnight.
 Best After Midnight
 But Captain C. s. Freeman, su- perintendent of the naval observa tory here, says that the period oi utmost intensity, with the biggest and most meteors. will be between l. iy,rr n August 12.
 After that, the earth will begir to edge out of this meteor belt.
 These meteor showers, Captar Freeman explains, follow in abou the same periods as comets. I'm Perseids shower comes just at th' time the earth is crossing the orbl of Tuttle's comet of 1862, which W will not see again until 1885. Thes Meteors form closed ring or end less chain along the comets pat and the earth always finds them i it's annual visit.
 The pcrseids are meteoric frag
 ments breaking off tn" racing clus
 ter. AS the strike the earth's atmos
 phere friction develops so muc
 heat that they are generally entire
 ly consumed before they hit tn
 earth. Some of them. however. ar . too large 10 succumb 10 incal : dcscence and reach the groun' : whence they are unearthed an , placed in museums The remalt ) prove to be some form of iron < most cases though some have = rock base.
 The flaming perseids are 10 I seen in the northern sky. . Indications are. according to Cal s tain Freeman. that they will be vi |. ible from most parts of the Unite n States.
 |. The most brilliant meteor Z shower on record was that of \
 vembcr 1&. 1888. Hundreds Of tho
 sands ot shooting stars fell with
 two or three hours and the spect a cle was witnessed generally throug | out North America. Many perso >. thought that the end of the wor IT had come and some observers COT .- pared the display to celesti ,r snowstorm.
 A How brilliant will be the Aust I. II shove. of this year cannot 1, ,e be determined. Sometimes i' da
 zles the whole heavens. Last year .d least 40 large meteors were sec r. tratling as fast in some cases q. 90 or 40 miles a second. ic Reach High Temperature as The velocity of the earth its Of is la miles a second and Profes:
 NeVc0mb figured out that the r
 Of temperature produced by the |
 pact of our atmosphere with D E. fcctiy stationary meteor would el some 600 900 degrees. But even as most solid metal must be burr nz up or volatilized with an imme' D. evolution of light and heat bef' ". such q temperature is obtain 15 Thus. We can see 5h or 1e0 mi 10 away particles whose mass may s- exceed 8 single grain.
 Of the Perseids. Charles