SUBLIME METEORIC SHOWER ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES.—1833.
The Most Grand and Brilliant Celestial Phenomenon Ever Beheld and Recorded by Man.—The Whole Firmament of the Universe in Fiery Commotion for Several Hours.—Amazing Velocity, Size, and Profusion of the Falling Bodies.—Their Intense Heat, Vivid Colors, and Strange, Glowing Beauty.—Unequaled in Every Respect.—Cloudless Serenity of the Sky.—The People Wonder-Struck.—Admiration Among the Intelligent.—Alarm Among the Ignorant.—Conflagration of the World Feared.—Impromptu Prayer-Meetings.—Prodigious Star-Shower at Boston.—Myriads of Blood-Red Fire-Balls.—The Display at Niagara Falls.—Blazing Heavens, Roaring Cataracts.—Some of the Meteors Explode.—Trains of Light in their Track.—Radiant Prismatic Hues.—Substance Composing these Bodies.—Dissipated by Bursting.—One Great Central Source.—Velocity, Four Miles a Second.—Novel Shapes and Motions.—Hotter than the Hottest Furnace.—Possible Result to the Earth.—Half a Continent in Presumed Jeopardy. “The sanguine flood
Rolled a broad slaughter o’er the plains of heaven,
And nature’s self did seem to totter on the brink of
time.” Extensive and magnificent showers of shooting stars have been known to occur at various places in modern times; but the most universal and wonderful which has ever been recorded is that of the thirteenth of November, 1833, the whole firmament, over all the United States, being then, for hours, in fiery commotion! No celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with such intense admiration by one class in the community, or with so much dread and alarm by another. It was the all-engrossing theme of conversation and of scientific disquisition, for weeks and months. Indeed, it could not be otherwise than that such a rare phenomenon,—next in grandeur and sublimity to that of a total solar eclipse, or a great comet stretched athwart the starry heavens, in full view of a wonder-struck universe,—should awaken the deepest interest among all beholding it. Nor is the memory of this marvelous scene yet extinct; its sublimity and awful beauty still linger in many minds, who also remember well the terror with which the demonstration was regarded, and the mortal fear excited among the ignorant that the end of the world had come. During the three hours of its continuance, the Day of Judgment was believed to be only waiting for sunrise, and, long after the shower had ceased, the morbid and superstitious were still impressed with the idea that the final day was at least only a week ahead. Impromptu meetings for prayer were held in many places; and many other scenes of religious devotion, or terror, or abandonment of worldly affairs, transpired, under the influence of fear occasioned by so sudden and awful a display. But, though in many districts the mass of the population were thus panic-stricken, through fear, as well as want of familiarity with the history of such appearances, the more enlightened were profoundly awed at contemplating so vivid a picture of the apocalyptic image—that of “the stars of heaven falling to the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” In describing the effect of this phenomenon upon the black population, a southern planter says:— “I was suddenly awakened by the most distressing cries that ever fell on my ears. Shrieks of horror and cries for mercy could be heard from most of the negroes of three plantations, amounting in all to some six or eight hundred. While earnestly and breathlessly listening for the cause, I heard a faint voice near the door calling my name. I arose, and taking my sword, stood at the door. At this moment I heard the same voice still beseeching me to rise, and saying, ‘Oh, my God! the world is on fire!’ I then opened the door, and it is difficult to say which excited me most—the awfulness of the scene, or the distressed cries of the negroes. Upward of one hundred lay prostrate on the ground, some speechless, and others uttering the bitterest moans, but with their hands raised, imploring God to save the world and them. The scene was truly awful, for never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the same.” In a word, the whole heavens seemed in motion. The display, as described in Professor Silliman’s Journal, was seen all over North America. The chief scene of the exhibition was within the limits of the longitude of sixty-one degrees in the Atlantic Ocean, and that of one hundred degrees in Central Mexico, and from the North American lakes to the southern side of the island of Jamaica. Over this vast area, an appearance presented itself far surpassing, in grandeur and magnificence, the loftiest reach of the human imagination. From two o’clock until broad daylight, the sky being perfectly serene and cloudless, an incessant play of dazzlingly brilliant luminosities was kept up in the whole heavens. Some of these were of great magnitude and most peculiar form. One, of large size, remained for some time almost stationary in the zenith, over the Falls of Niagara, emitting streams of light which radiated in all directions. The wild dash of the waters, as contrasted with the fiery commotion above them, formed a scene of unequaled and amazing sublimity. Arago computes that not less than two hundred and forty thousand meteors were at the same time visible above the horizon of Boston! To form some idea of such a spectacle, one must imagine a constant succession of fire-balls, resembling sky-rockets radiating in all directions, from a point in the heavens near the zenith, and following the arch of the sky toward the horizon. They proceeded to various distances from the radiating point, leaving after them a vivid streak of light, and usually exploding before they disappeared. The balls were of various sizes and degrees of splendor; some were mere points, but others were larger and brighter than Jupiter or Venus; and one, in particular, appeared to be nearly of the moon’s size. But at Niagara, no spectacle so terribly grand and sublime was ever before beheld by man as that of the firmament descending in fiery torrents over the dark and roaring cataracts! Everywhere within the range of the exhibition, the first appearance was that of fire-works of the most imposing grandeur, covering the entire vault of heaven with myriads of fire-balls resembling sky-rockets. On more attentive inspection, it was seen that the meteors exhibited three distinct varieties, as follows, described by Dr. Olmsted:— First, those consisting of phosphorescent lines, apparently described by a point. This variety was the most numerous, everywhere filling the atmosphere, and resembling a shower of fiery snow driven with inconceivable velocity to the north of west, and transfixing the beholder with wondering awe. Second, those consisting of large fire-balls, which at intervals darted along the sky, leaving luminous trains which occasionally remained in view for a number of minutes, and in some cases, for half an hour or more. This kind appeared more like falling stars, giving to many persons the very natural impression that the stars were actually falling from the sky; and it was principally this spectacle which caused such amazement and terror among the unenlightened classes. Third, those undefined luminous bodies which remained nearly stationary in the heavens for a considerable period of time; these were of various size and form. One of the most remarkable circumstances attending this display was, that the meteors all seemed to emanate from one and the same point; that is, if their lines of direction had been continued backward, they would have met in the same point, a little south-east from the zenith. They set out at different distances from this point, and following the arch of the sky, ran along the vault with immense velocity, describing in some instances an arc of thirty or forty degrees in less than four seconds. The trains which they left were commonly white, but were sometimes tinged with various prismatic colors. One ball—seen at New Haven, and supposed to have been identical with one described by various observers—that shot off in the north-west direction, and exploded a little northward of the star Capella, left, just behind the place of explosion, a phosphorescent train of peculiar beauty. The line of direction was at first nearly straight; but it soon began to contract in length, to dilate in breadth, and to assume the figure of a serpent drawing himself up, until it appeared like a small luminous cloud of vapor. This cloud was borne eastward,—the wind blowing gently in that direction,—opposite to the course in which the meteor had proceeded, remaining in sight several minutes. Of the third variety of meteors, the following are remarkable examples. At Poland, Ohio, a luminous body was distinctly visible in the north-east for more than an hour; it was very brilliant, in the form of a pruning-hook, and apparently twenty feet long and eighteen inches broad; it gradually settled toward the horizon, until it disappeared. At Niagara Falls, a large, luminous body, shaped like a square table, was seen nearly in the zenith, remaining for some time almost stationary, and emitting large streams of light. At Charleston, S. C., a meteor of extraordinary size was seen to course the heavens for a great length of time, and then was heard to explode with the noise of a cannon. The point from which the meteors seemed to issue was observed, by those who fixed the position of the display among the stars, to be in the constellation Leo. At New Haven, it appeared in the bend of the “sickle,”—a collection of stars in the breast of Leo,—a little to the westward of the star Gamma Leonis. By observers at other places remote from each other, it was seen in the same constellation, although in different parts of it. An interesting and important fact, in this connection, is, that this radiating point was stationary among the fixed stars, that is, that it did not move along with the earth, in its diurnal revolution eastward, but accompanied the stars in their apparent progress westward. According to the testimony of by far the greater number of observers, the meteors were, in general, unaccompanied by any very peculiar sound; but, on the other hand, such a sound, proceeding, as was supposed, from the meteors, was said to be distinctly heard by a few observers in various places. These sounds are represented either as a hissing noise, like the rushing of a sky-rocket, or as explosions, like the bursting of the same bodies; and these instances were too numerous to permit the supposition that they were imaginary. A remarkable change of weather, from warm to cold, accompanied the meteoric shower, or immediately followed it. In all parts of the United States, this change was remarkable for its suddenness and intensity. In many places, the day preceding had been unusually warm for the season, but before morning a severe frost ensued, unparalleled for the time of year. Indeed, the seasons and atmospheric changes exhibited remarkable anomalies long after that period. Thus, in parts of Michigan, so uncommonly mild was the season throughout the latter part of November, and the whole of December, that the Indians made maple sugar during this month, and the contiguous lakes remained unfrozen as late as January third. At the same period, the season in the south-western States, as far as New Orleans, was uncommonly cold. In most portions of New England, an unusually mild winter was succeeded by a remarkably cold and backward spring, requiring domestic fires to be kept throughout the month of May, and frequently in the month of June. A succession of gales commenced about the time of the meteoric shower, first in the Atlantic Ocean, and afterward in various parts of the United States, almost unequaled in this country for their frequency and violence. The meteors were constituted of very light, combustible materials. Their combustibility was rendered evident by their exhibiting the actual phenomena of combustion, being consumed, or converted into smoke, with intense light and heat; and the extreme tenuity of the substance composing them is inferred from the fact that they were stopped by the air. Had their quantity of matter been considerable, with so prodigious a velocity, they would have had a sufficient momentum to enable them to reach the earth, and the most disastrous consequences might have ensued. Upon submitting this subject to accurate calculation, upon established principles, Dr. Olmsted ascertained that the quantity of heat extricated from the air by the falling meteors, exceeded that of the hottest furnaces, and could be compared only to those immeasurable degrees of heat produced in the laboratory of the chemist, before which the most refractory substances are melted, and even dissipated in vapor. Some of the larger meteors must have been bodies of very great size. Dr. Smith, of North Carolina, and other persons in various places, saw a meteor which appeared as large as the full moon. If this body were at the distance of one hundred and ten miles from the observer, it must have26had a diameter of one mile; if at a distance of eleven miles, its diameter was five hundred and twenty-eight feet; and if only one mile off, it must have been forty-eight feet in diameter. These considerations leave no doubt that many of the meteors were of great size, though it may be difficult to say precisely how large. The fact that they were stopped by the resistance of the air proves that their substance was light; still, the quantity of smoke, or residuum, which resulted from their destruction, indicates that there was quite a body of matter. The momentum of even light bodies of such size, and in such numbers, traversing the atmosphere with such astonishing velocity, must have produced extensive derangements in the atmospheric equilibrium, as the consideration of certain points will show. These large bodies were stopped in the atmosphere, only by transferring their motion to columns of air, large volumes of which would be suddenly and violently displaced. Cold air of the upper regions would be brought down to the earth; the portions of air incumbent over districts of country remote from each other, being mutually displaced, would exchange places, the air of the warm latitudes being transferred to colder, and that of cold latitudes to warmer regions; remarkable changes of season would be the consequence, and numerous and violent gales would prevail for a long time, until the atmosphere should have regained its equilibrium. That the state of the weather, and the condition of the seasons that followed the meteoric shower, corresponded to these consequences of the disturbance of the atmospheric equilibrium, is a remarkable fact, and favors the opinion early suggested, that such disturbance is a natural effect of the meteoric shower, and it is a consequence from which the most formidable dangers attending phenomena of this kind are to be apprehended. With regard to the nature of the meteors, Dr. Olmsted, after establishing the fact that they were combustible, light, and transparent bodies, infers that the cloud which produced the fiery shower consisted of nebulous matter, analogous to that which composes the tails of comets. It cannot be said, indeed, precisely what is the constitution of the material of which the latter are composed; but it is known that it is very light, since it has no appreciable force of attraction on the planets, moving even among the satellites of Jupiter without disturbing their motions, although its own motions, in such cases, are greatly disturbed, thus proving its materiality; and that it is exceedingly transparent is evinced by the fact that the smallest stars are visible through it. Hence, so far as there can be gathered any knowledge of the material of the nebulous matter of comets, and of the matter composing these November meteors, they appear to be analogous to each other. Various hypotheses have been proposed to account for this wonderful phenomenon. The agent most readily suggesting itself in this and in most other unexplained natural appearances—electricity—has no known properties adequate to account for the production of the meteors, for the motions which they exhibited, or for the trains which, in many instances, they left behind them. And, if this agent be supposed to have some connection with the light and heat which they exhibited, it is to be borne in mind that the compression of the air which must result from the rapid progress of large bodies through it is a sufficient cause of this. Magnetism has also been assigned as the principal agent concerned in producing the meteoric shower. The aurora borealis, and the remarkable auroral arches which occasionally appear in the sky, have been found to have peculiar relations to the magnetism of the earth, arranging themselves in obedience to the laws of magnetic attraction. Something of this kind was supposed by some to appear during the meteoric phenomenon, especially in the position of the apparent center or radiant-point, which was, as noticed by many observers, very nearly in the place toward which the dipping-needle is directed. From other observations, however, it appears that the radiant-point was not stationary with respect to the meridian, but accompanied the stars in their westerly progress; the apparent coincidence with the pole of the dipping-needle being, according to this, purely accidental. According to the view that has been taken, by some, of the origin of meteoric stones, namely, that of ascribing them to terrestrial comets, the hypothesis has been suggested that the meteors in question might have a similar origin. But the body which afforded the meteoric shower could not have been of the nature of a satellite to the earth, because it remained so long stationary with respect to the earth,—at least two hours,—a period sufficient to have carried it nearly round the earth in a circular orbit. Nor can it be supposed that the earth, in its annual progress, came into the vicinity of a nebula, which was either stationary, or wandering lawlessly through space. Such a collection of matter could not remain stationary within the solar system, in an insulated state; and had it been in motion in any other direction than that in which the earth was moving, it would soon have been separated from the earth, since during the eight hours while the meteoric shower lasted,—and perhaps, in all its wide range, it lasted much longer,—the earth moved in its orbit through the space of nearly five hundred and fifty thousand miles. In connection with the account of this meteoric shower, mention may be made of a remarkable light, seen in the east at the time of that great display, and subsequently in the west after twilight, at different times, until the month of May, which light assumed different aspects, corresponding, apparently, to those which the body revolving around the sun, in the manner contemplated by theory, would occupy. Hence it was conjectured that this luminous appearance proceeded from the body itself, which afforded the meteoric shower. It has also been suggested that this light may result from the same cause as the zodiacal light; and that the latter interesting phenomenon perhaps results from a nebulous body revolving around the sun, interior to the orbit of the earth. The direful effects which such a “fiery shower” might, in the absence of that law of harmony which governs the universe, have unquestionably produced, is a point worthy of contemplation. Had the meteors been constituted of materials a little more dense, their momentum would have enabled them to reach the earth; and had they held on their course three seconds longer, it is impossible to conceive of the calamities which would have ensued by the descent to the earth of bodies of such magnitude, glowing with the most intense heat. Half the continent must have been involved in one common destruction! One of the most interesting facts pertaining to this grand celestial phenomenon is its periodical character. Between the years 903 and 1833, of the modern era, thirteen of these great showers are recorded, separated from each other by intervals of thirty-three and sixty-six years. It is not a little remarkable, too, that the epoch of these periodic displays coincides with the annual November showers so familiar in their occurrence to all, and that their point of divergence in the heavens is the same. Indeed, the phenomenon of the long interval or period differs from that of the annual period only in its numerical character. The last of these magnificent stellar showers,—second, perhaps, in grandeur of demonstration to that of November, 1833, which latter stands solitary in its unsurpassed extent and splendor,—occurred November fourteenth, 1867, beginning at about three o’clock in the morning. At half-past three, a meteor of a greenish blue color, and about the size of a star of the first magnitude, shot out from the direction of the constellation Leo, lighting up the sky with a long train of crimson, and traveling in a north-westerly direction. It had scarcely faded from the sight, when another, equally brilliant though not quite so large, came speeding along in its track, and it was followed by fourteen of smaller magnitude, one by one, in quick succession. At this moment a heavy cloud drifted toward the north, and for some minutes the spectacle was partially lost to view. That the meteors were falling rapidly, however, was plainly evident; for, from all points where the mass of clouds was thin, occasional meteors flashed out, and the frequent lighting up of the clouds, as they passed over, left no doubt that the mysterious phenomenon was having full play in the regions beyond. At ten minutes before four o’clock, the northern sky again became clear; a thick and almost impenetrable cloud passed over the moon, partially obscuring its light, and thus enabling the observers to view with greater distinctness the size and brilliancy of the meteors. The display was now a most magnificent one indeed. The meteors shot out from Leo in all directions, and with remarkable swiftness traveled across the horizon. Sixty-three were counted in one minute and ten seconds, of which three were of extraordinary size and beauty. One of these, of a greenish hue, and followed by a long train of the same color, traveled in the direction of Ursa Major, and as it was disappearing in the southern horizon, apparently burst, lighting up the sky for a great distance on all sides. It soon became utterly impossible to keep any correct account of the number falling. Eight, ten, and twelve sped onward, on their erratic course, at the same moment, scarcely disappearing before others of equal splendor took their places. For fully twenty minutes they continued to fall with the same rapidity, during which time, there were counted, exclusive of those already mentioned, three hundred and thirteen. This number, however, was not one-fifth of that which really fell, as observed in New York City. Not less than fifteen hundred or two thousand were estimated by observers at that city, to have radiated from Leo, during this space of time, some of which were splendid in color and movement. One of the meteors constituting this display is described as of surpassing beauty, size, and brilliancy. It radiated from Leo, and took a direct northerly course toward Ursa Major, followed by a long train of yellowish-red hue, which spanned the horizon from its point of appearance to that of its disappearance. This meteor was of the same greenish blue color as the others which preceded it, and as it passed over about one-half of the course traversed, it seemed to burst, and then the spectacle was one of extreme beauty; apparently, hundreds of fragments of an almost blood-red color broke from it and scattered in every direction, while it continued its course toward the north, no longer wearing its greenish-blue color, but of one uniform and beautiful blue. The panorama it presented was exceedingly grand, and lasted about three minutes, before the varied colors disappeared and the fire-lit skies resumed their wonted serenity. After this appearance, the display gradually died away. Although it is doubtful, from the want of the requisite data, whether the source of the meteors, or the height of the meteoric cloud, has been accurately ascertained, yet the truth in regard to the latter may be approximated. According to the established laws of falling bodies, the velocity the meteors would acquire in falling from a point two thousand two hundred and thirty-eight miles above the earth to within fifty miles of its surface—this being considered as nearly the height of the atmosphere—is about four miles per second, which is more than ten times the maximum velocity of a cannon-ball, and about nineteen times that of sound!—Our First Century.