FLIGHT OF METEORS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 210, 18 August 1934, Page 8

FLIGHT OF METEORS

Swishing Sound Made NEW EVIDENCE DISCOVERED Convincing evidence that sounu travelling in air at the unbelievable speed of light is given by meters is reported in the official journal of Auieri can astronomers, Popular Astronomy. Under the familiar laws of acoustics, no air borne sound cun travel faster than 1090 feet a second. Lay Stories that big meteors make a swishing sound that travels as fast as their light have been ascribed to excited imaginations. But some new facts, which cannot be dismissed as*imagination, were unearthed by H. H. Nininger, of Denver, secretary" of the Society for Kesearfh on Meteorites, when he covered the trail of the giant meteor which illuminated New Mexico and adjoining States in March, .1933. This survey covering thousands of square miles has just been completed. “As with all of the meteors which the writer has investigated,’’ he states, “there are many people who in this instance reported, hearing a swishing or whining noise at the instant of the fireball's passage. “Of course it is nt oaee evident that a sound from the meteor passing to 100 miles from an observer would re quire minutes -. ■ reach him. yet one meets with thi.- sumo story so frequent ly as to raise the question whether there may nut be a method of sound transmission at the v>J.u-ity «i ether waves." Mr Nininger cites th- ,; pysclu.|.>gi- | cal’’ explanations hitherto adopted by natural scientists whereby observers wi re believed to have confused sight with imaginary sound and says: “Tieports of sound come in many cases under circumstances which eeein to jus-

tify serious consideration of the pro,blem. In several instances witnesses have testified emphatically regarding arious meteors, that a swishing noise drew their attention and led them ■ek its source when as yet buildings oilier objects hid the meteor from "Vyithout exception, those who have reportetd this peculiar phenomenon describe the sound as a sort of bum, whine or swishing noise, occasionally comparing it with the noise produced by thrusting hot iron into cold water.” Although Mr Nininger does not attempt to explain the sound as a possible manifestation of an electrical phenomenon, he tells of a huge, luminous cloud 200 miles long and three miles in diameter which hung in the sky more than an hour after passage of this meteor. There is no chance for imagination about the cloud. He found the photographs of it. Its height ranged from 50 miles down to below 35. It could be seen 200 miles. He refused at first to believe the stories that it wus self luminous. Scientists said the light must be reflection of sunshine high above the earth, as this meteor was seen not long before sunrise. But measurement of the photos proved that no sun ray ever struck the cloud. It was too fur up in intense cold to be made of hot particles. So an electrical phenomenon is tie cn'v pre sent explanation. I