ngth of Path. Direction or Radiant-point. Appearance, Remarks, &c. Observer or Reference. n minal part Directed from ŋ Aquila......... End of course only seen, dis-T. W. Backhouse. or 3°.) appearing behind trees, with Corona for fully a minute. Shot southwards........... (Astronomical Re gister,' Sept. 1876.) Left a long train. [For a descrip- Communicated by J. tion of this meteor's course at Lucas. Folkestone, see Appendix III., Periodic Meteor-showers.] A fine Perseïd; left a streak for R. P. Greg. 5 or 6 seconds. [Identical with the last meteor.] Not a Perseïd; radiant appa- Nucleus pear-shaped, emitting W. F. Denning. rently in Aquila. sparks as it rolled along, but leaving no persistent streak J. Lucas. 15 [About 9 30p.m.?] Bluish; like the limelight. At first brilliant yellow, changing to vivid green before disappearing. Newtown, Wales Large and intensely Changed from Slow motion; First bright. light yellow duration to red, and 9 seconds. finally to dazzling white. appeared about the centre of Ophiuchus; traversed Libra and Virgo, and disappeared in Leo near Re gulus. Twice or rather Bluish white... 2 seconds...... Commenced in more than twice Camelopardus peared in Lyra [i. e. probably very near Capella]. Its line of flight passed half way between Polaris and Ursa Majoris, and it disappeared 15° from about the Nearly 100... [The apparent course described At first it appeared large but H. de H. Haigh. (Ibid.) only traverses the northern parts of Libra and Virgo; and at the observed time of appearance the star Regulus, rear which it terminates, was 15° below the north-west horizon.] not much more brilliant than an ordinary shooting star, but it rapidly increased in splendour, changing its colour and appearance. [For the general appearance and for other descriptions of this fireball, see Appendix II.]. Direction of motion exactly Appeared very near, like an arti- Harold John. perpendicular downwards. ficial firework. Jupiter in The English Meanother part of the sky ap- chanic,' Sept. 1, 1876. peared quite dull in compari son with it. APPENDIX. I. METEORS DOUBLY OBSERVED. In the list of observations presented with last year's Report, several examples of meteors doubly observed, chiefly in the August meteor-shower in 1874, occurred, and the heights and real paths of these meteors have been calculated. The computed real paths and velocities, and the radiant-points from which the meteors were directed, are shown in the Table opposite. It is probable that few observations are sufficiently trustworthy to give correct values of the speeds of individual meteors; but among several such determinations the average velocity of the Perseids here found may be regarded as approximately ascertained, and it does not greatly exceed the value which theory assigns to it. The real path and radiant-point of the fireball of August 10th, 1874, has been recalculated, as well as the velocity from the average of two observed durations of its flight; the calculated speed is within a mile of the velocity of a body moving in a parabolic orbit from the direction of the radiant determined by its apparent paths. The latter point is very near a known radiant-point of a shower to which it may be presumed that this large fireball belonged, and a marked centre of radiation of shooting-stars near μe Aquarii, during the annual shower of Perseïds, is thus probably confirmed by this double observation. The recorded tracks of the fireball at Birmingham and Newcastle-on-Tyne diverge from a centre at R.A. 313°, S. Decl. 14°; and a radiant-point from the 3rd to the 31st of August is shown by Dr. Schmidt's investigations to be observable at R.A. 306°, S. Decl. 8°. The star e Aquarii (R.A. 310°, S. Decl. 10°), near this, at some distance from which several other radiant-points for July and August are clustered in Aquarius, occupies the extreme west, while the latter radiants more nearly adjoin a star 0 (R.A. 333°, S. Deel. 8°) which is in the eastern part of the same constellation*. In the list of large meteors which accompanies this Report, an observation of a large fireball on August 16th, 1875, at 10h 26m P.M., near St. Agnes, Cornwall, is described, of which two other descriptions also appeared in The Times' of August 21st and 25th, showing that the meteor was visible over a very wide area, from Wales to Brittany in France. Ty Mawr, Ty Llangelly, near Crickhowell; Mr. H. Ball." On August 16th, at 10h 26 P.M., I saw a very bright meteor, which is probably the same as that seen by your correspondent F.R.S., from St. Agnes, Cornwall. From this place its position was nearly 5° below and to the right of the full moon, on a line inclined 45° to the horizon." Redon, Lower Brittany, France; F.R.G.S." It may be worth while mentioning that the meteor seen in Cornwall and Wales was also seen by me at Redon, Lower Brittany, at the same time. It was exceedingly brilliant, and, as F.R.S. remarked, it much resembled a string of magnesium beads. The night was singularly clear and the moon very bright, but the In the copy of Schmidt's list of radiant-points printed in the volume of these Reports for 1874, p. 321, it should have been observed that the positions to which days as well as months of duration are assigned are asterisked in the original list as accurately (the rest being less accurately) determined. The radiants near Aquarii in Schmidt's and Tupman's lists are erroneously quoted in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (vol. xxxvi. p. 218) as being the nearest known" radiants to the above described point of emanation of this meteor's real course. A + Astronomical Register' for October 1875, vol. xii. p. 246. Monthly Notices' of the Astronomical Society, vol. xxxvi. p. 216. these meteors' real paths are also contained in the number for February, 1876, of the the Astronomical Register for April 1876. The final results of his calculations of served in England, August 10th and 11th, 1874. [To face p. 138 |