Abstract
THE August meteor-shower has been more frequently observed than any other with which we are acquainted, and the modern history of this remarkable system includes many interesting circumstances. It has not, in recent times, given us displays equal in grandeur to periodical swarms like the Leonids of November 13 and Andromedes of November 27, being decidedly less rich in point of numbers. But what this stream lacks in this respect is compensated for by the annual visibility of the shower and by the intense brilliancy of some of its individual members. Every year the August meteors present a conspicuous appearance on the night following St. Lawrence's Day, and fire-balls of excessive lustre are now and then interspersed with the smallest perceptible shooting-stars of the system. The Leonids and Andromedes, which have rendered the month of November so famous in meteoric annals, can only reappear abundantly at intervals of thirty-three and (probably) thirteen years, whereas the Perseids of August are unfailing in their regular apparitions as the epoch comes round each year. On the night of the 10th the most casual observer will not fail to notice the surprising frequency of shooting-stars, and must remark their occasional brilliancy and the persistency of the phosphorescent after-glows which they generate during their rapid flights amongst the fixed stars.
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DENNING, W. A History of the August Meteors . Nature 38, 393–395 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/038393a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/038393a0