Abstract
ONE of the most notable meteors of recent years appeared on February 22 at 7.30 p.m., and was observed from the southern counties of England. It was a brilliant object, at first emitting an orange light, varying in intensity, then when about half its flight had been performed it suddenly blazed out with a steely-blue lustre and lit up the foggy atmosphere as though a huge rocket had exploded. It left a short, luminous streak where the chief outburst occurred, but this streak immediately intensified and soon extended along the whole path traversed by the meteor. Becoming bent and contorted, it assumed a variety of shapes and drifted to north-west under the action of upper wind currents. Diffusing itself into a broad, faint band of irregular form, it was ultimately lost amid the Milky Way about two hours after the time of-its first projection. The long duration of the streak is almost without parallel in this country, though the Madrid meteorite of 1896 February 10 left a luminous band or cosmic cloud visible in the sky for 5½ hours!
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DENNING, W. The Meteoric Fireball of February 22 and its Streak. Nature 80, 13–14 (1909). https://doi.org/10.1038/080013a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/080013a0