Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-04-25

M AH Will put TO shame the most amDf-
tious pyrotechnical effort that the
INX mind of man could possibly devise?
k>SE3 Astronomers believe there is a chance
dE that 1t will. For. according to their
wa calculations, such a display is at least
a year overdue. Here Is the reason:
On the nights of November II and
13, 1888, the world was visited with the greatest
shower of meteors of which there Ia any certain
record. All along the eastern seaboard of the
United States people looked up at a sky that
was literally afiame with failing stars many
of them as brilliant as the most brilliant "fxed
star" In the armament. 1.-THE stars fell on this
occasion like flakes Of snow one observer has
recorded, land 1t 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 1799-34 years earlier-there
had been a similar shower of failing stars"
Again In 1866 there was a great shower and In
1867, one only slightly less spectacular than the
preceding year. Perhaps 1t was only coincidence
that these showers had come at 33 or "a year
intervals or perhaps 1t was another manifesto
tion of the regularity of Nature. At any rate,
the astronomers looked for another shower in
1893, but it failed to materialize. Neither did 1t
come the next year. Evidently the S3 or 34-year
period had been skipped entirely.
Still undaunted by the failure of the Leonids
flor that is the scientific name of these fall
Ing stars') to appear on schedule time In 1899,
the astronomers eyed the heavens hopefully on
November II and Is. 1892. 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 q 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 There
Is never a clear, moonless night when you can
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 q much brighter one. At
times, though not many of us will have the luck
to see 1t, one comes with a thunderous noise
like the roar of a cannonade, and a b~rilliance
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 mornings.
Probably there are still many men who hold to
some such belief. but 1t is very far from true.
AA3 RN0AD - Ea@tE obAcs A16Af VA AVA f0StAf
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 unthinkable
speeds, ranging from $4,000 to 100000 miles per
hour.
What becomes of them? They do not pelt the
ground around us7 No, the most Of them are
burned to ashes while still many miles above
us. Every now and then, however, one that Is
too large to burn up before 1t hits the ground
does come. Such stones are called meteorites,
and many thousands of them, weighing from
several ounces to several tons, are on exhibit In
our museums.
Anyone - especially farmers may happen
upon a meteorite. Prof. Harvey FL. NinInger of
the Colorado Museum of Natural History In Dem
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
lis not waiting to be found 1t may be under the
ground, especially IL 1t liz 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 specimens
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
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, 1t will probably be
reddish-brown with rust. In either case. Of
course, 1t win be very heavy. often, but not
always, 1t viii have peculiar pits In II, somewhat
like a piece of putty into which somebody has
pushed his thumbs and fingers. Amy strange
piece Of iron, which isn't clearly of some other
origin, may possibly be q meteorite.
Stony meteorites are a bit harder to identity.
They, too, are always heavier than the average
earth stone; and also they are always black on