Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/258

 lowish tinge; a considerable number were red and orange; and a few were blue; many surpassed the fixed stars in lustre and some were even brighter than Venus—Most of the meteors left trains of vivid green light 5 degrees to 15 degrees in length, which marked their course through the heavens, and endured for 3 seconds on the average, then became dissipated; though some of the trains were almost 40 degrees in length, and remained in sight for several minutes." The shower of 1899 was quite naturally anticipated with much eagerness but it fell far short of the brilliant displays seen in 1866 and 1833.

The third shower listed, the Andromids, radiate from the orange-gold star on the foot of Andromeda during the last week in November. These are best seen during the evening. They are also called the Biela meteors and bring to mind the interesting history of the late Biela comet.

Many hundreds of these radiant points have now been discovered. The meteors which appear in a direct line to the eye, appear as points or stars; those appearing farthest from the center, other things being equal, appear to have the longest trails but their paths are all parallel. The illustration in perspective of the trains coming forward from a point on the horizon of a desert illustrates this clearly.

Meteors, which represent the wreckage which comets strew along their orbits, are not visible until they strike our atmosphere, which causes them to glow. They "glow" because they become white-hot, and they become white-hot because they have been rushing through space at planetary speed, and striking our atmosphere is like striking a match against a stone wall. The friction thus engendered causes the smaller particles to burst into flame and melt in a streak of fire, although the larger ones only melt on the outside, which is thrown off in a streaming tail of incandescent matter, the remainder of the meteor falling to the earth like a