Flight of Telescopic Meteors seen by W. R. Brooks, Nov. 28, 1883.]
_Telescopic Meteors._—Observers who are engaged in seeking for comets or studying variable stars employ low powers and large fields, and during the progress of their work notice a considerable number of small meteors. At some periods these bodies are more plentiful than at others, and appear in such rapid succession that the observer’s attention is distracted from the special work he is pursuing to watch them more narrowly and record their numbers. Schmidt saw 146 telescopic meteors during ten years. They ranged between the 7th and 11th mags. Winnecke in the year 1854 noticed 105 of these objects on thirty-two evenings of observation with a 3-inch finder, power 15, and field of 3°. I have also remarked many of these objects when using the comet-eyepieces of my 10-inch reflector[45], and find they are apparently more numerous than the ordinary naked-eye meteors in the proportion of 22 to 1. It would be supposed from the great rapidity with which the latter shoot across the firmament that the smaller telescopic meteors are scarcely distinguishable by their motion, as they must dart through the field instantaneously and only be perceptible as lines of light. But this impression is altogether inconsistent with the appearances observed. They possess no such velocity, but usually move with extreme slowness, and not unfrequently the whole of the path is comprised within the same field of view. The eye is enabled to follow them as they leisurely traverse their courses, and to note peculiarities of aspect. Of course, there are considerable differences of speed observed, but as a rule the rate is decidedly slow and far less than that shown by naked-eye meteors. I believe that telescopic meteors are situated at great heights in the atmosphere, and that their diminutive size and slowness of movement are due to their remoteness. This conclusion will hardly be avoided by anyone who attentively studies the several classes of meteors in their various aspects. Unfortunately no attempt appears to have been hitherto made to determine the actual heights of telescopic meteors, owing to the difficulty of obtaining two reliable observations of the same object. The only way of securing such data would be for several observers to watch certain selected regions by prearrangement either with a low-power telescope or field-glass, and record the exact times and paths of the meteors seen. On a comparison of the results a good double observation of the same object might be found, in which case the real path could be readily computed.