NO APPEARANCE

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 47, 18 November 1932, Page 18

NO APPEARANCE

Leonid Meteor Shower OBSERVERS DISAPPOINTED The much-discussed Leonid meteors that were-to return in the early hours of yesterday morning failed to appear in any numbers, and much disappointment was felt by many who had set their alarms early and waited patiently in the biting northerly breeze. In Wellington conditions were spoilt by heavy passing clouds obscuring the greater portion of the sky throughout the morning. Arrangements had been made by the New Zealand Astronomical Society to carry out an extensive series of observations, and Mr. F. M. Bateson, observing from Karori, reported that during a watch from 2.10 a.m. until after dawn, only one Leonid meteor was seen. This was a particularly striking one, being as bright as Mars and leaving a train behind it. Its colour was reddish. Throughout the week observations have been made at Karori, and on most mornings the weather has been very poor. This was the first meteor to' be seen from the expected radiant point. Two residents of Paterson Street, however, reported that they had seen more than 50 meteors shortly after 2 a.m. The failure of the shower to return is similar to what occurred in 1899, when, despite the predictions of astronomers, the meteors were so drawn out of their orbit by planetary disturbances that no display was observed. It appears that the stream has become permanently disturbed by the action of some other planets, and it is now said to be unlikely that a further display will be seen. There is, however, a possibility that the meteors may put in a belated appearance. MEMORIES OF 1883 “Sublime and Awful Beauty” One of,the most remarkable flights of meteors was that witnessed over the whole of the United States and Canada on the night of November 13,1883, when the entire firmament was for hours in a state of fiery commotion, creating intense wonderment in some places and alarm in others. Years afterwards a commentator said of this display : “Nor is the memory of this marvellous scene yet extinct; its sublimity and awfulbeauty still lingers in many minds, who also remember well the terror with which the demonstration was regarded, and the mortal fear excited among the ignorant, who feared that the end of the world had come. . . Impromptu prayer meetings were held in many places, and many scenes of religious devotion or terror transpired under the influence of the fear occasioned by so sudden and awful a display.”