DAYLIGHT METEOR

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 13934, 12 July 1919, Page 4

DAYLIGHT METEOR

> A .VERY BRILLIANT ONE. [ The Government Astronomer, Dr. >. C. E. Adams, has received from Mr i, J. T. Ward^ Director of the Wanigainoii Obsierv.atoi.y, his repoirt of ob- . seryations of a very brilliant meteor , seen iby hinu at Wanganui on Fri- , day, 20th June. Mr. Ward states): : "I had the good fortune to be out „ ■walkrig at the time, and faoinig the , direction" of its path. Time was 4hra 58mim. The sky was cloudless y and veay bright, the eun not! having i lonig been set. I cauight sight of :i the meteor at am elevation of about--35' deg. S.W. (roughtly). It was , five or six times as bright as Venius, , which was easily visible at the time, and in appearance was a, roundish ' ball of white light, about 6 minutes of arch in diameter. It appeared to ;•• move quite leisurely, after the mansoer iof over'taikinig train-bearers, and , rose- in a graceful cui-ve till it was ojn the S. mieridiain., (when it fell «jl%htly agtaaii, ftis jgcrealteß't altitude '..'beiing, aibooijb dqg.V ' Its total length of flight wa« roughly 110 deg. ; After it had passed about 30 deg. it began to throw out a. mass of coi-usjcanltilna paiiticl^s, whiich formi^ ed a, brilliant tail about 2' -to 3 deg. in lemjgth. This" came .gradually from the single white' glohauar mass afb the icoommieaiicemeint, a,nd it was noticeable that the maximum quantity of «jeota, or wastage, occurred roujghly ait its; middle passage). The colour from a pure white at the 'be- ' felDnlLnigl pasgiedl toi reddSshl at the

middle-of its muth, and it. appeared that the particles shot out in showers from the main mass and passed fete- the tail, \vhieh waiS 1 yeilloAvish and white -at its extreme end. After the meteor passed; over aibout another 40 de<r., or 7.0 deisr. in all, the tail vanished, and it finished ata flight as it had be^ivn, <vaz., as a sitgrle dobular mass off yhivte light, ■which faded oust; iover itn, the S.E., adding", ."Mother 30 desr. more: or less ■to its path, or 100 deg. rouehly mall. "I suppose the "wastaiore .mi the earO'ier a,nd later poirtiioms of its ipath was not BiifficiGfi.t to maikie itself TiiisdM© on such a. 'hriicrht sfcy, and "from the" tnten^ty of the same at ife centfcrail fpassa:s!"e 5t "would ap-pear-that the meteor "mas a lars?e oine, which passed at a fltrea.t height. a,nd; ■ooJitinued on/ out of th 6 earth's iat!moispiheire( into soaeei. Thnlfc "would acoount for vaint of tirain at the besri-nninisr ,and end of its path, when it "w^fl in the rare mafeir'al. and its frnctional "waistaiire as it idipwed into a denser .stratnim, at tb® mndtlle of Its transit."