The Meteor of May 12

Abstract

IN NATURE (vol. xviii. p. 105) the statement occurs among the “Notes” that the brilliant bolide of May 12 was seen at Geneva, the local time being said to agree. May I call your attention to the fact that the difference between Greenwich and Geneva is 25 minutes (or 2 minutes more if Berne time is compared). Thus 9.45 is 9.20 Greenwich time, nearly half an hour after the meteor recorded by English observers. It is now a well recognised fact that large meteors come in groups, naturally raising the suggestion that such groups form part of a slowly disintegrating mass.