METEORIC PHENOMENON.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 18, 22 January 1867, Page 3

METEORIC PHENOMENON.

On the night of the 13th-14th November the meteor phenomenon, anticipated by astronomers with all the interest that could attach to an eveut occurring only once io 33 years, Avr s realised in full splendour. From all parts of England accounts have been received of the fiery shower. We select a few : — From about 11 o'cloek occasional meteors might be seen over the metropolis glidiug along the sky from east to west. The numbers iucreased after twelve o'clock with great rapidity. From Paddintongreen 207 meteors were counted between 12 and 12.30. The next hundred was counted during the six minutes thst succeeded the half hour. At Highgate an observer counted 200 meteors in the tAvo mioutes betAveeu 12.57 and 12.59. As the constellation Leo rose over the houses the divergence of the meteor paths became •obvious, not merely in the directions of the streams that shot from or through the zenith, but iu those that left their phos-phorescent-seeming trails in the sky towards every point of the compass. Sometimes the meteor was orange and almost red in its color, whereas the luminous trail seemed almost alw. ys, probably by contrast with the surrounding light, of a bluish hue. Only about three meteors were seen during an hour and a half to take a direction manifestly opposed to that of these diverging multitudes. The meteors which shot towards the western horizon seemed more brilliant and larger in their courses than those which dropped into the eastern. One singular feature in these celestial fireworks was the rapidity •with which the maximum of frequency came on and went off again. About two o'clock the meteors seemed to have become as scarce as they were at twelve, though they continued in smaller numbers till the verge of daybreak. From half-past 12 or a quarter ito 1 until about a quarterpast or h-lf-past 1, the heavens seemed veritably alive with stars rushing in many parts of the sky, in groups of two and three together or in immediate succession on each other, seeming as though racing

over the blue vault, except that their courses so rapidly diverged. Afc Liverpool, although the night was' cloudy aud a furious storm raging, some of the meteors illuminated the whole sky Avith a glare like* that of the aurora borealis in its grandest phases. The neighborhood ofthe Great Bear appeared to be the starting point of the meteoric showers, and theuee tbey performed circuit in a south-westerly direction. Almost all the display was north of the Milky Way. Some of the meteors had all the appearance of skyrockets shedding as they pursued their course trails of fire. At Edinburgh the night was clear. "Standing" says the 'Scotsman,' "on the Calton Hills, and looking Avestward — it Avith the Observatory shutting out the lights of Princes-street: — it Avas'easy for the eye to delude the imagination into fancying some distant enemy bombarding Edinborough Castle from long range, and the occasional cessation of the shoAver for a few seconds, only to break out again with more numerous and more brilliant drops of fire served to countenance this fancy." From Windsor Castle the magnificent phenomena were seen to advantage. The Queen was an observer of the spectacle for some time.