PATHS OF METEORS

Taranaki Daily News, 9 August 1930, Page 4

PATHS OF METEORS

REPORTS BY OBSERVERS. WIDE AREA OF VISIBILITYParticulars of two bright meteors witnessed over the Auckland Province in June have been furnished by Mr. R. A. Mclntosh, Auckland, who collected reports from a number of readers of the New Zealand Herald who has observed these bodies. Seventy reports of meteors and others were sent in hs a result of Mr. Mclntosh’s published request for observations. - ; ' , . The noises created by the passage through the atmosphere of the bright nieteor which occurred at 6.30 pan. on June' 13 where at first put down to an earthquake in the Ohaupo district. That the meteor was the cause of these noises was proved by the reports of 13 persons, most of whom both saw the meteor and heard the noises which followed. The possibility of an earthquake on that date is thus disposed of. From the descriptions of the observers it appears that the meteor first became luminous on the east coast above Waihi. Travelling inland, it ended above Hamilton. The detonations were heard over a narrow belt under the meteor’s flight extending from Maramaraa to Ngaruawahia. The noises resembled loud thunderclaps, as many as a dozen. detonations at short intervals being heard. The meteor which occurred five days later, at 10.5 p.m. on June 18, was one of the most splendid that has ever been reported in New. Zealand. It consisted of a round nucleous, blue in colour, which emitted flame-coloured sparks as it flew. It. also left behind it a train of reddish matter. It was so brilliant that observers bo far apart as. Auckland, New Plymouth, Napier and.Motueka described it lighting their surroundings like daylight. Thirty-nine observations of this, body were reported,. and from these it was possible tto deduce a. very accurate path. This meteor first- ; b,ecame luminous at

a height of 124 miles when above Te Uku, Raglan. Falling almost .vertically, it sped, over a path of 117 miles before ' ehiling in an explosion, 8J miles above Te Rauaihba','/ east of Kawhia. | As its duration was esJiubated iit 5| seconds, the meteor must have had a 'velocity of 21 miles a second. The loud 'detonations caused by this meteor were con/mpd.; mainly to the Waipa county and the King Country, a fact which conflrnjs tho; steeply inclined path, of the body, 0.,