The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-04-27

I0% mind Of man could possibly devise?
koS3 Astronomers believe there is chance
hGS5 that it will. For, according to their
wa calculations such display is at least
W. a year overdue Here Is the reason:
On the nights of November Il and
ID, 1888, the world was visited with the greatest
shower of meteors Of which there is any certain
record. All along the eastern seaboard of the
United States people looked up at sky that
was literally afame with failing stars" many
of them as brilliant as the most brilliant "fxed
star" in the armament. "The stars fell on this
occasion like flakes of snow one observer has
recorded, "and it was calculated that at least
100000 of them had fallen during a period of
nine hours"
Then people began to recall that exactly on
the same date in 1904 years earlier-there
had been a similar shower of failing stars"
Again in 1866 there was great shower and in
1857 one only slightly less spectacular than the
preceding year. Perhaps it was only coincidence
that these showers had come at 33 or "a year
intervals or perhaps it was another manifesto
ton Of the regularity of Nature. At any rate,
the astronomers looked for another shower in
$780, but it failed to materialize. Neither did it
come the next year. Evidently the 33 or 34-year
period had been skipped entirely
Still undaunted by the failure of the Leonids
tfor that is the scientific name of these "fall-
ing stars'o to appear on schedule time In 1899,
the astronomers eyed the heavens hopefully on
November II and 10, 1882. But once more they
were disappointed, as they were again last year.
But some of them still think that this coming
November may see the display of Natures fire.
works" similar to those of the years mentioned
above What has happened to these showers of
meteors at periods of one-third Of century?
Nobody knows. The disappearance of the Leonids
Is one of the mysteries of science
Meteors, except as they come in showers like
the Leonids, are not at all uncommon There
is never a clear, moonless night when you cam
not step outside your house and see several Of
them in the course of Is minutes. The most of
them, of course, are very small-mere little wisps
of light that shoot across the heavens But now
and then you may see much brighter one. At
times, though not many of us will have the luck
to see 1t, one comes with thunderous noise
like the roar Of a cannonade, and brillance
that blinds the eyes,
What are these fiery travellers through our
heavens? Men used to think that they were actu-
ally stars broken loose from their moorings.
Probably there still many men who hold to
some such belief, but it is very far from true.
The stars are great suns, many of them vastly
larger than our own sun, and millions upon mil
lions of miles distant from our solar system.
Meteors are the fiery display Of stones, captured
out of space by the gravitation Of the earth,
and heated to incandescence by the friction of
the air that blankets our globe These stones
pierce our atmosphere at almost Gnthinkable
speeds, ranging from $4,000 to 100000 miles per
hour.
What becomes of them? They do not pelt the
ground around us? No, the most of them are
burned to ashes while still many miles above
u.s. Every now and then, however, one that is
too large to burn up before it hits the ground
does come Such stones are called meteorites,
and many thousands of them, weighing from
several ounces to several TONS are exhibit in
our museums.
Anyone especially farmers may happen
upon meteorite. Prof. Harvey 81. Nininger OF
the Colorado Museum Of Natural History in Den
yer, who is the worlds greatest authority on
the subject says that there is probably not an
area ten miles square anywhere in the United
States where at least one stone from the sky
is not waiting to be found. 1t may be under the
ground especially If it Is a large one, or 1t may
be out In plain sight.
His conjecture is based on wide experience
for he has himself collected more than 1900 of
them during the past ten years His Hecimens
may be seen in almost every large museum in
the world: in London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna; in
the Field museum in Chicago, in the Smithsonian
institution In Washington in the Museum of Nat
ural History in New York City; and In many
others No other man has collected even one
tenth as many as he has. The most OF Professor
Nininger's stones have been bought from farmers
who turned them up while blowing, or who found
them In tramps across fields and pastures.
They are easy to recognize, when one knows
what to look for. Most meteorites are one OF
two kinds: iron meteorites or stony meteorites.
The irons are always black on the outside,
when newly fallen; but when one has lain ex-
posed to the air for a time, it will probably be
reddish-brown with rust In either case, OF
course, 1t will be very heavy. Often, but not
always it will have peculiar pits in it, somewhat
like piece of putty into which somebody has
pushed his thumbs and fingers. Any strange
piece of iron, which isn't clearly of some other
origin, may possibly be meteorite.
Stony meteorites are bit harder to identify.
They too, are always heavier than the average
earth stone; and also they are always black on
the outside when newly fallen, turning to red
dish brown In the course Of time. Inside, how
ever they differ greatly from iron meteorites
and also from one another. One common kind
looks very much like piece Of grayish-white
cement covered with coat of black paint; or,
IL it is an old fall, of black paint mixed with
Indeed, they may be almost any shade between
black and white under their outer crust.
Stony meteorites are also often pitted. but the
pits are seldom as sharply defined as they are
in the iron variety. After the surface has turned
from black to reddish-browp, 1t often looks
good deal like the crust of a loaf of cracked
wheat bread, with similar little fakes scattered