Further concerning the visitant which many observers thought to be a comet
To the Editor of the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer-Press :
St. Paul, 26 juillet ? J'ai eu la bonne fortune d'avoir une vue splendide du météore du dernier soir, appelé comète, (maintenant que les airs et les têtes des gens sont pleins de comètes) par notre correspondant de Lanesboro. Should say that his description of the body and its movements was generally very good, save that the application of the terms feet and inches to the apparent size of a body of wholly undefined distance conveys no distinct idea to the mind. Feet and inches at what distance? As seen by myself, about 8:30 P.M., the meteor came from the south-eastern heavens, below the star Altair, some 15° or 20° above the horizon. It was exceedingly brilliant, with a well-defined head, as large or larger than the planet Venus at her brightest, and seemed to move about as fast as a rocket at a square's distance does just before it explodes. There was to me a sense of retardation in its movement, just as there is in a case of a rocket : but this was probably only apparent, because it looked so much like a bright rocket ready to explode, and because, in fact. I was expecting to see it explode every instant. Its direction was toward the north-west, toward which it crept as a fiery serpent, disappearing some 10° above the horizon. I use the word "crept" because its movement was in no sense the darting motion of the ordinary meteor, but a deliberate, majestic course, giving one a great sense of the power with which it moved through at least 100° of the heavens. At its highest point I should think it was about 30° above the horizon. My estimate of the time the meteor was visible is from six to eight seconds, certainly not ten seconds. I well know how much this disagrees with the estimate or your other correspondents, but we must try to get at the facts. A mere fraction of a second only is occupied by an ordinary meteor, and the best observers tabulate those that occupy a second in going 10° as slow. I should call this one rather slow, much slower than the ordinary meteor. Its tail probably some 10° in length.
T. D. SIMONTON.
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