Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/255

 in from outside space, perhaps flying back and forth between two stars until it becomes so exhausted that one of the stars is able to capture it. At least we know that the solar system now possesses a great number of comets who bow to the mastery of our star and never wander beyond the orbits of his planets. If these are not true children of the sun they are at least his adopted ones, and there is nothing that will ever lure them from his magnetic personality.

Meteoric showers are popularly called "shooting stars." At least one shooting star may be seen every ten minutes but at certain times of the year they appear in showers. Three of the most profuse of these "star" showers appear from the

The Perseids, radiating from a point in the constellation of Perseus, are best seen about three o'clock in the morning. These meteors are called the "Tears of Saint Lawrence" and are noted in ancient legends as the "fiery tears" of this saint who was cruelly persecuted and burned at the stake. His festival is celebrated on the 10th of August, but his "tears" fall for three whole nights.

The Leonid star shower radiates from the vicinity of the star γ in the Sickle of Leo and rains most thickly in the early morning hours. On an average of every 33 years the earth's orbit seems to cut through a denser portion of this meteoric swarm which causes especially beautiful displays. There is a record of this spectacular performance for a thousand years back, although it was not until after the brilliant displays of 1799, 1833 and 1866 that astronomers began a vigorous investigation of the subject of shooting stars. On the night of November 13th, 1833, "the stars fell like flakes of snow, varying in size from a moving point or