NO SHOWER OF STARS FELL LAST NIGHT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 264, 5 August 1939, Page 13

NO SHOWER OF STARS FELL LAST NIGHT

Meteors Disappoint

ASTRONOMERS’ VIGIL PROVES VAIN

Watchers of the skies last evening, scanning the interplanetary spaces for a deluge of shooting stars, were disappointed. The few odd meteors which were seen were not a part .of the shower expected to whirl into the earth’s atmosphere from the wake of a wandering comet. At a late hour nothing had happened, and the hopes o:: the star-gazers were low. At about three o’clock yesterday, the earth was within 2,700,000 miles of the track taken by tliejcomet Jurlof-Ach-manarof-Hassel, which passed this way last March. This lapse of time and space, to a layman ample to preclude all possibility of picking up any stray stardust, is regarded by astronomers a.s a mere footstep across the immeasurable areas of space. It was, however, evidently sufficient to preclude any’debris left behind by the comet from getting in the way of the earth. The sky was clear all day,, but clouded over at dusk. At first it appeared that the evening would be hopeless for observations, but later the wind changed to the north, and the clouds broke. Puffs of cotton-woolly cumulus floated low over the hills and the city, and were stained red with the glare of the electric signs. Between them, in the lightless immensity of epace, the small stars twinkled crisply. No doubt many Wellington people threw open their windows, or gazed skyward from verandas and balconies before going to bed. If so, they saw only the ordinary evening sky, with no more shooting stars than on any other night. Occasional meteors there may have been, as on any other night, but up till midnight nothing in the way of a meteor shower was noticeable. , . At the Carter Observatory a carefui watch was kept after 9.30 p.m. the approximate hour when the point ox the sky from which the meteors should radiate rose over the New Zealand horizon. That portion of the sky was scanned and examined by the director, Mr. M. Geddes, who reported at H.oO p.m. that he had seen nothing in the way of a shower. He said he had observed a number of meteors, but at this time of year there were a number of radiants from which meteors could be expected, and there were none from the direction of the comet,, Indeed, it was no more than astronomers had expected. The likelihood of a spectacular shower had been very slightA few bright meteors were observed in the eastern sky on Thursday night and earlv Friday morning, as well as last night. Three particularly bright ones were at 8 p.m. on Thursday, 1.0 a.m. on Friday, and 4.15 a.m. on Friday. . The one seen soon after midnight that night was described by an observer as the brightest he had ever seen It was well above the eastern horizoiq over Mount Victoria, and dropped south-east toward the horizon, trailing a bright streak of phosphorescence. , t Despite last night’s disappointment, astronomers will continue to watch the skies for the next few nights, in case the shower should even now take place. And failing that, they will look forward to January, when once again Jurlof-Achmanarof-Hassell will cross the track of the earth.

BLUE-GREEN FLASH IN THE SKY / Phenomenon Seen In Hastings By Telegraph —Press Association. HASTINGS, August 4. Preceded by a blue-green flash, which floodlit the countryside, a spout of flame appeared uiis morning at .- o'clock in the eastern sky, lasting ap proximately tw o seconds. The brilliance of the light paled even Neon signs and street lights. It was apparently caused by a meteor, though it is .curious that a flash almost like sheet lightning, was seen first. A trail of flame sprang into existence almost instantaneously, apparently in vertical direction. NOT CONNECTED WITH METEOR SHOWER

Carter Observatory astronomers said last night that there was no possibility of this meteor being in any way connected with the lookeiDfor Jurlof-Ach-manarof-Hassel meteor shower. Such phenomena were usually in the nature of isolated meteors of fireballs, and were of considerably larger size than any which would result from the comet. Had a meteor shower occurred, it would probably have comprised a large number of very small meteors., Moreover, the time at which it was seen, and the quarter of the sky. entirely precluded any connexion with the shower, the part of the sky in which the latter was due to appear being at that hour of the night due north from New Zealand. The Carter Observatory had neither heard of nor seen the Hastings meteor.