REMARKABLE METEOR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1817, 17 April 1888, Page 3

REMARKABLE METEOR.

An observer wi I'm to the "New Zealand TlaiQ3 " a3 follows :-At 10 53 last evonlug (Thursday, 12ih April) (Ud Uh 2:JmIn,iM.G.T.) I observed fr. m Petano a very unuanal mokor, My attention waa attractod by n amldnn and briMbn* illumi.nation of tho landccip?. Tho m"tp.or wjs at least ten tlmai as ht'%ht. as Vonus — probsbiy ita light oq-nUod that of the moon fivo daya' old. It travelled parallel with the meridian, aqrors tho western eky. Ite highest paint wag 6)Jeg aUitqte when due wear. When, bearing S. kS.W at QOJeg altitude It Baddonty burst in^o Vvy> targe and several ehulUt fr'giucn'a. One of the larger ffagnjents, which confcinard tho direct courap, was of a reddish hue ; while the olhor, falling with a divergence of 45dep, wbb of a bright greenish bias. Tho Btn&ller fragments ahowod pure v^hite lights. I counted ISO aecoDdti from the bursting, and hoard a dull report, which waa repeated several times like a distant thunder-clap. This gives the distance on a S.S.W. bearing of tho exploding point aa thirty-four miles. The mete« r almoat equallod m brilliancy tho remarkable froball or bolide that pneeod over Now Zealand In the same direction on the evening of January ls f , 1871. ftefuiM leaviag Wellington station at 10 p.m. I had at about 9.60 and 9.65" o^Bl3rvod the [singularly bright Ulamlnation of tha sky, and attributed that to lightning, bo 1 probably 'thta waa only due to rnqteo^.