“Meteorites” A paper by Mr. T. L. Atkinson
- Meteorites picked up in the earth are as a rule very irregular in shape and have the appearance of having been broken. They are usually curved with thin crust, black in colour, and generally dull, but sometimes bright and shinning. This crust is never more than about one fiftieth of an inch in thickness. The interior appearance of the meteorite is of three kinds, one kind consisting entirely of iron with a certain amount of nickel, others of both metal and stone, while in others the stone is the main point, some of them being
- almost entirely stone. The junction between the crust and the interior is sharply defined. The highest calculated speed of any meteorite was that of the Stannern 1 Meteorite which moved at the rate of 45 miles per second. The heat and friction to which the exterior surface of a meteorite is exposed in its rapid passage through the air melts off the outer portion of it, and the greater part of the melted portion being carried away, and leaves only the thin crust before-described. The greater portion of the velocity of these falling stones is lost before they reach the earth, and one even arrived with so small a velocity
- that although it alighted upon ice it rebounded without cracking it. The fall of meteorites is usually accompanied by the sounds of thunder or of loud explosions & they sometimes leave behind them a long train in the sky which may remain visible for some time. The noise accompanying the fall may be caused by actual explosions of the meteorite or by its rushing through the air at an enormous speed. The same appearances as have been observed when a fall of stones takes place have been seen when no stones can be ascertained to have fallen. The meteorite has in this case been burnt up before reaching the earth. Shooting stars are
- many small meteorites which are by reason of their smallness in the way burnt up before they reach us, so that they probably only arrive at the earth surface in the form of dust. Dust which has been is considered to be meteoric has been found on the surface of the earth and in deep sea deposits, and Professor Lockyer 2 has recently come to the conclusion from spectroscopic observations of the aurora that the atmosphere contains meteoric dust, and that the aurora is a meteoric phenomenon. It has been calculated that about twenty million meteorites large enough to be visible to the naked eye, enter our atmosphere evert day, & that if we include
- telescopic shooting-stars the daily number would be something like four hundred million. But on certain nights we see regular showers of falling stars, and when one of these showers is taking place all the stars comprising it appear to be coming from one point in the sky. These showers occur at regular intervals. For instance, the November shower which last occurred on 14th 1866, has been found to have occurred at intervals of about 33 years, records of many of these falls having been kept & extending back to the year 902. These meteors are in fact revolving round the sun in an orbit which is completed in about 33 ¼ years,
- and in orbiting which they are moving crosses the earth’s orbit at the point where the earth is on about the 14th It has been found that there is a comet which is travelling in exactly the same orbit as these November Meteors, and this cannot possibly by mere chance. Other comets have also been found to be travelling in the tracks in the tracks of meteor swarms. A comet has been thought to be a large meteorite from which portions have been split off & have formed the swarm round to follow in the comets track. But the latest view is that a comet is simply a swarm of small meteorites & it is suggested that its light is caused by collisions between
- the meteorites comprising it and also between them and the meteorites scattered through with which external space is believed to be filled. The comets of short period are found to be divided into families, the members of each family passing near some one of the great planets, and Mr. Proctor’s theory is that they are the result of volcanic eruptions which have happened in the planets in some early and very active stage of their existence. But the more general opinion is that comets have come originally from external space and have come within the influence of our sun & been drawn in & that those which compare the comet families have passed near to one or other of the planets have been as it were, captured by them.
Notes by the Editor.
Each of the seven handwritten pages are indicted thus 1. to 7.
Crossings out by the writer have been retained