Meteor Shower

Plate showing a shower of Leonid meteors observed in November 1868. This event is described as follows by the author:^[1]

In the years 1866, 1867 and 1868, there were also extraordinary meteoric displays on the night of November 13th. It was on the last mentioned date that I had the opportunity to observe the remarkable shower of shooting-stars of which I have attempted to represent all the characteristic points in plate XII. My observations were begun a little after midnight, and continued without interruption till sunrise. Over three thousand meteors were observed during this interval of time in the part of the sky visible from a northern window of my house. The maximum fall occurred between four and five o’clock, when they appeared at a mean rate of 15 in a minute.

In general, the falling stars were quite large, many being superior to Jupiter in brightness and apparent size, while a few even surpassed Venus, and were so brilliant that opaque objects cast a strong shadow during their flight. A great many left behind them a luminous train, which remained visible for more or less time after the nucleus had vanished.