An Extraordinary Meteor

Abstract

I BEG to send you the following, in case you consider it worth inserting:—At about 1.10 a.m. on the night between November 18 and 19, whilst going in the s.s. Bokhara in the Red Sea, about midway from Aden to Suez, the quarter-master on duty called me, saying he had just seen a new comet, or shooting star, which was still visible many minutes after its first appearance. He said that whilst he was looking out ahead, or in a northerly direction, he suddenly noticed the effect of a bright light shining from astern, and on turning round saw a very bright shooting star still moving from left to right, and slightly downwards, in the south, at an altitude of about 40°. The star speedily disappeared, but left a bright train of light behind it, which continued so long (from five to ten minutes he gue sed) that he thought I might like to see it. I came on deck a little before a quarter past one by the ship's clock, and found a streak of light which I estimated as 8° or 10° in length, and rather less than half a degree in width, apparently stationary, midway between Sirius and Canopus, and nearly as bright as the comet, the head of which must have risen half an hour or more previously. I watched the streak till half-past one o'clock, when it seemed sensibly fainter, though still a conspicuous object, notwithstanding the presence of the moon, the comet, and a number of bright stars. Whilst watching I noticed two small meteors shooting from left to right across the southern sky, which struck me as probably belonging to the same group as the large one whose train I was watching.