Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/105

 perspective, the widening apart from a point, being the same in the case of the meteors speeding along parallel lines in space. We see only those meteors, of course, which become caught and ignited in the atmosphere surrounding the earth and which streak down the sky all aflame; the rest pass on their way, invisible. Of this more will be said later under the heading of "Comets and Meteors."

The "Leonids," as these November meteors are called, are only seen in the early morning hours on the 15th of November, while the "Andromids," which have their radiant point in Andromeda, are only seen in the early part of the evening on the 24th of November.

The famous Leonid meteors of 1833 dropped down so fast and thick that it seemed that all the stars in the heavens were falling down on the earth. This unique spectacle occurred again in 1866, and records show that, for a thousand years back, at intervals of every 33 years, we have been visited by such a "star shower." The first disappointment came in 1899, just as the general public, probably for the first time, was looking forward to it with a great deal of pleasurable anticipation. Will we again be disappointed in 1932? Although the earth passes across the pathway of these meteors every year, it is believed that along a certain section of the pathway the meteors are strung in thick profusion. It is through such a portion, literally studded with the fragments, that the earth rolls every 33 years, although it is not known for a certainty why, after all these years, we failed to see a display in 1899.

A small "dark" constellation called Cancer, the Crab, lies just in front of Leo, the Lion. Although this constellation has been pointed out since very ancient times, and holds an important position in the zodiac, it does not contain a single conspicuous star and could scarcely be located in the sky, were it not for a faintly shining spot of light about the size of the Pleiades. This spot of light