Abstract
THERE was a magnificent meteor-shower here on the evening of Wednesday last, the 27th. My attention was first called to it about half-past 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 in the neighbourhood of Cassiopeia, and their 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 longest duration, that I noticed became visible near Cygni, and continued its course to a point a little to the south of Vega. It resembled a small rocket. On the following evening the sky was too overcast to make observations.
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FAWCETT, T. The Great Meteoric Shower. Nature 7, 86 (1872). https://doi.org/10.1038/007086a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/007086a0
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