Nature November 28th 1872
Mr W F Denning, of Bristol, noticed on Saturday evening 23rd
November a meteor of considerable brilliancy.
It radiated from a place at the extreme north west part of Andromeda,
passing through the sword handle of Perseus, and onwards through
Camelopardalis, becoming extinct, as if burnt out, on reaching the head of Ursa
Major.
In its flight the meteor faded several times and revived
again with great rapidity. It did not leave any train of light marking the path
it had traversed, though it emitted a spark in its course. In reference to its
brightness Mr Denning says it excelled Venus when at her maximum degree of
brilliance.
Nature December 5th 1872
THE GREAT METEORIC SHOWER
As you will most probably have received from many other
correspondents a general description of the magnificent spectacle on last
Wednesday evening, I will confine my remarks principally to those observations
which bear directly on the most important point at issue, viz, whether this
meteor stream can be identified with the well-known comet of Biela. Having
searched during the autumn, on every available occasion for a glimpse at the
approaching comet, and the almost unvarying cloudiness of the early morning sky
rendered even the negative value of the observation well-nigh useless, I read
with the delight the prediction of Dr Weiss, and felt the greatest interest in
its fulfilment.
Immediately I had noticed that a meteoric shower was in
progress on the evening of the 27th November, I directed the two
assistants of the observatory, who have had considerable experience in tracing
the paths of meteors during the past few years, to devote their whole attention
to the accurate determination of the radiant point. In the meantime, with the
assistance of three of the students of the philosophy class and of the
meteorological assistants of the observatory, I noted the rate per minute , the
velocity, direction , magnitude, &c of the falling bodies.
The radiant was found to be in on the line joining gamma
Andromeda and 51 Andromeda, and twice as far from 51 as from gamma. This gives
as RA 26’ 37”, and N decl 43’ 48” agreeing very well with the prediction.
The epoch is somewhat in advance of that predicted; but this
cannot be wondered at, as the comet has not been since 1852, and, in three
complete revolutions round its orbit, it
could scarcely have been expected not to have been subjected to considerable
unknown perturbation, either from planets whose masses are imperfectly known,
or perhaps from some neighbouring meteor stream.
The time of the maximum was about 8h 10m pm but the numbers
did not diminish before 9.00pm GMT. Between 8h 47m 30s and 9h 0m the computer
of the observatory counted 512 which gives 40 per minute for one observer, and
therefore at least 100 per minute invisible. From 9 to 10 o’clock at which time
the sky became clouded, and remained so till morning, the mean rate was about
53 per minute, and almost constant from minute to minute, though varying much
during each minute. At certain moments they were exceedingly numerous, thus at
9h 19 m nine appeared at the same instant at a point near beta andromeda.
A very peculiar feature of the display was the parallel
motions of many stars that became visible at the same time. Thus at 9h 16m five
burst out close by gamma Andromeda and travelled eastward together; at 9.25
four went together from gamma Andromeda to the Pleiades.
More than nine tenths of the meteors were very faint, and
the larger ones seldom attained to any very considerable magnitude. Most had
tails; and almost invariable colour being a white star with a greenish blue
trail. The tails of those falling S E were observed to bend somewhat towards
the E and to be straight only during the first half of their path. The ratio of
numbers falling SE to those falling NW was 3 to 2, but this excess may in part
be accounted for by the possibility of the radiant. More of the larger meteors
went S the N and more W than E. The track of the larger bolides rarely, if ever, exceeded 50’, and
their velocities were very noticeably less than
that of the 13th and 14th November shower, as might be expected, if their absolute
velocities are comparable, the radiant for
November 27th being so far removed from the apex of the
Earth’s way.
S J Perry
Stonyhurst Observatory
December 1st
A fine display of shooting stars was observed here on
Wednesday 27th November. I first noticed them at 7.20pm Greenwich
Time, and watched them till about 8, when the sky became obscured. They were
occasionally seen again till 9.30. When first observed they appeared to radiate
from the zenith and to be more numerous towards the north west and south west;
many passed over the constellation Cygnus.
A W Scott
St David’s College
Lampeter
November 30th
During the recent star shower, my attention was given
especially to the observations connected with h flight of individual meteors.
As on many occasions in the presence of rare natural phenomena, I was keenly
mortified with the deficiency of my own scientific training; but I send a few
gleanings, if perchance a useful grain can be found amongst them. The
brightness obviously increased with the distance traversed, but in many cases
no increase in brightness was perceptible for the first third of the course. The
extinction was not instantaneous but only very rapid, the distance traversed
towards extinction being perceptible though very small; perhaps because the
velocity seemed to diminish as the brightness increased. The train in many
instances was forked, being brightest on its edges, the luminosity which lasted
for some time after the immediate space was dark This seems incompatible with
the hypothesis that the train is a mere optical result, of that the brightness
arises, as in lightning, from incandescent particles of the atmosphere. In one
or two instances the brightness of the train was granular, resembling the light
of a partially resolved nebula, or of the Galaxy. In a few instances the paths
of the meteors appeared to show remarkable deflections. One notably at 6h 25m,
close to Vega, resembled an “S” drawn out nearly straight.
The course of a body passing with great velocity through an
elastic medium tends to follow the direction of least resistance.
It is only in poetry that “the lightning falls with never a
jag”
And though, as compared with that of electricity, planetary
velocity is small, say twenty miles per second, yet this error in a very
attenuated atmosphere would produce an intolerable amount of resistance right
ahead.
Looking for deflections arising from this cause I saw, or
fancied I saw, some very remarkable ones, such as no rules of foreshortening or
perspective would account for.
Henry H Higgins
Rainhill
December 2nd
I hope last night, November 27th, was generally
hear. It was so here and we were treated to the most splendid meteor shower
that I have ever seen. I went out quite by chance into my garden at 7 pm and
saw it in its full glory. I counted in a very few minutes 500 meteors, and then
lost count, there being far too many to count all. On several occasions I saw
as many as twelve in the sky at one: their radiating point seemed to be about
Xi Cassiopeia, and from that point they floated in every direction – north,
south, east and west. At that time Cassiopeia being immediately above one’s
head, the effect was magnificent.
Edmund V Pigott
Malpas
November 28th
A very fine shower of shooting stars was observable at
Boltsburn, Rookhope in Durham on Wednesday night 27th November. I
first noticed them about half past seven, when they were very numerous; their
directions were chiefly downwards, towards nearly all points on the horizon.
The radiant point seemed to be situated near the Great Bear, but of this I
could not make myself perfectly satisfied. They varied much in magnitude and
length of track. Some of the larger ones left a streak of reddish light on
their track, which lasted a second or two. About eight o’clock I counted in
fifteen minutes 600, which came within
my field of vision from a doorway having a southerly exposure. The regularity
of occurrence was such as to approximate closely to 200 during each five
minutes. How long the phenomenon continued in the latter part of the night I
had not the opportunity of ascertaining .
John Curry
Rookhope
Durham
November 29th
The following are the observations which I was able to make
on the night of the great shower of meteors on Wednesday night.
The first which I saw was at 5.25 pm between 5.35 and 5.50,
150 were counted by one observer in the sky towards NE. At 6.26 in four minutes five observers
counted 310. At 6.40 in two minutes five observers counted 316. At 8.37 with a
hazy cloud to N, six observers in five minutes counted 553. At 8.45 , in
fifteen minutes, one observer counted 528 while facing SE.
A very few among so many left visible streaks of light after
the meteor itself had disappeared, fifteen seconds being the longest time any
of them remained visible. They appeared to radiate from a point a little to the
south of mu Cassiopeia, many in the vicinity of that star having courses of
less than one degree in angular measurement.
Towards 10 pm clouds covered the greater part of the sky, so
that only unusually brilliant meteors could be seen; they were however, again
visible, but in decreased numbers at 11.30.
G H H
Birkenhead
November 29th
There was a magnificent meteor shower here on Wednesday
evening last, the 27th November. My attention was first called to it
about half last five o’clock, and I watched it at intervals until about seven,
when the sky became overcast with clouds. It really was a shower, and no
mistake, the sky at times quite sparkling with meteors. Their point of origin
appeared to be n the neighbourhood of Cassiopeia, and the general direction
towards the west and north, though several radiated to the east and south.
Some, after becoming, invisible, as if passing behind some intervening cause,
suddenly emerged in all their brightness and then suddenly vanished. The streak
left behind was in some instances a continuous smooth line, in others the
appearance was that of a row of sparks strung together. The finest meteor, and
the one of the longest duration, that I noticed became visible near Cygnus and
continued its course to appoint a little to the south of Vega. It resembled a
small rocket. On the following evening the sky was too overcast to make
observations.
Thomas Fawcett
Blencowe School, Cumberland
November 30th
The splendid meteor shower of November 27th was
well seen at St Andrews. My attention was not called to it until after the
meteors had begun to decline in frequency; but they were still at about 8h 30m
GMT, so numerous as to give considerable confidence in assigning their radiant
point, about which they were seen shooting out in all directions. I saw at
least two, whose paths were foreshortened almost to a luminous point. There
appeared very close to the radiant near two stars in the right foot of
Andromeda, which in the star maps of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge are numbered 51 and 54, or in about RA 25’ N. Decl 48’. The sky
became overcast; but at about 11h 30m, meteors were still falling I directions
which confirmed my previous estimate of the position of the radiant. The sky
was again clear at 1 h 30m am but I saw no more meteors.
I have since seen in a table by Schiaparelli, from
observations by Zerzioli, 1867-69, and under the date November 30th
a radiant point in RA 17’ Decl 48’, which agrees closely with that which I have
ventured to assign to the remarkable shower of November 27th,
W Swan
St Andrews
November 30th
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