Mathematics – Probability
Scientific paper
Jun 1875
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1875natur..12...85k&link_type=abstract
Nature, Volume 12, Issue 292, pp. 85-86 (1875).
Mathematics
Probability
Scientific paper
THE writer some time since called attention to the fact that the dates of certain meteoric showers, given by Humboldt and Quetelet as belonging to the November stream, indicated the existence of two distinct and widely separated clusters moving in orbits very nearly identical. The years thus designated were 1787, 1818, 1820, 1822, 1823, 1841, and 1846. As the last two were subsequent to the great display of 1833, the meteors seen were noticed only in consequence of their being specially looked for; and as the number conformable to the radiant of the Leonids is not given, there may be some doubt whether those observed really belonged to the November stream. The former displays occurred before the periodicity of such phenomena had been suspected, and the number of meteors would seem to have been considerable. As the shower of 1787 preceded by twelve years the great meteoric fall witnessed in South America by Humboldt, the group from which it was derived had passed beyond the orbit of Saturn at the time of the latter display. The phenomena of 1818, 1820, 1822, and 1823 indicate that, as in the case of the major group, which passed its descending node between 1865 and 1870, the meteoroids are extended over a considerable arc of their orbit. From November 1787 to the middle of the nodal passage of 1818-1823, is about 33⅓years-a period nearly the same as that of the principal cluster. These facts alone were regarded by the present writer as giving reasonable probability to the hypothesis of an approximate identity of orbits. In NATURE, vol. xi. p. 407, it was shown that the meteor-showers of October 855 and 856 were probably derived from the stream of Leonids, and it is certainly remarkable that the interval from 855 to 1787 is equal to twenty-eight periods of 33.293 years. Again, the shower observed in China, Sept. 28, A.D. 288, making proper allowance for the nodal motion, corresponds to the same epoch ; the interval between 288 and 855 containing seventeen periods of 33.35 years. In view of the fact that the shower from this cluster was due between 1851 and 1855, the following extract from the writer's note-book is not without interest :-
No associations
LandOfFree
The Meteors of November 14 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Meteors of November 14, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Meteors of November 14 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-750662