Our Astronomical Column

Abstract

A REMARKABLE METEOR.—On Tuesday, December 1, at 6h. p.m., an extremely slow-moving meteor was seen by Mr. W. F. Denning at Bristol, and by Mrs. Wilson at Bexley Heath. It had rather a long flight, and was much brighter than a first magnitude star. The meteor was curious as belonging to a radiant point in Aquarius at about 336°–12°, and at the same position as the July Aquarids. No meteors have hitherto been recorded, so far as is known, from this radiant so late in the year. The object of December 15 last had a height of from sixty-seven to forty miles, its luminous course extended more than seventy miles, and its velocity was fourteen miles per second. The meteor must have been observed by many persons, the night being very clear and the object a very conspicuous one with an extensive trajectory. At the middle of December a well-defined shower of slow meteors from between a and β Persei at 48° + 44° was prominently active. This same radiant has been observed at many other times of the year, but never before on December 1 and 16.