Astronomical Register April 1864
SHOOTING STARS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE ASTRONOMICAL REGISTER.
Sir, In your last
number you inserted a letter from Mr. A. S. Herschel upon Shooting Stars. Allow
me to offer a few remarks upon this subject so closely connected with
Astronomy. It is the opinion of some that these bodies, and meteors generally,
are at a considerable distance from the earth, and also that they are composed
of solid matter. I have reason to doubt this and think that very frequently
they are dependent upon conditions of atmosphere or gases held in suspension in
the atmosphere.
Many years ago, I noticed in the harbour of Valentia, in
Ireland, one dark night, a small meteor pass over the harbour; the length of
its path possibly half a mile, its altitude about 200 or 300 feet. I judged it
to be upwards of a mile distant from me. It was not very bright.
Again, in 1855, I was crossing the Alps, by the pass of the
Mount Cenis, in the middle of December, and I was astonished at the number, the
brilliancy, and apparent proximity of the small meteors. They so illuminated
the inside of the diligence in which I was travelling, that, so far as my
recollection serves me, I could have read large print. The windows were frozen
over, so that I could not observe them as I should have wished, and the frost
was so intense, that my moustache was a mass of icicles if exposed to the air
for two minutes. These meteors occurred principally at about the highest part
of the pass, 6,700 feet above the sea, which we passed about two hours after midnight.
So far as I can remember they did not pursue any set direction, from or to any
cardinal point, but appeared promiscuously from all points of the compass.
Regarding the proximity of larger meteors, I would notice
one that I saw in June 1863. It was about half an hour before sunset, the sun
shining brightly. I noticed a brilliant meteor passing from west to east, the
nucleus about one - sixth the diameter of the moon, but much brighter, and
having a long tail of sparks diverging somewhat from the nucleus; its rate of
progression was moderately slow. What made the meteor so conspicuous was, that
its path was projected across a bank of dark grey cumulus cloud; this cloud I
estimated at not more than four miles from my position, and the meteor
apparently was nearer to me than half that distance, and its length from the
earth might have been 700 feet, more or less. I heard no noise whatever; its
path was parallel to the surface of the earth. It continued visible for three
or four seconds, during which time it passed over an azimuth of about 15 °. I
offer these facts to your readers who take an interest in Meteorology for their
consideration, hoping that they may prove interesting, if not useful.
I beg to remain, Sir, Yours obediently, Uckfield, Sussex. FREDERICK
BRODIE.
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