»t;,i ''' '! ' ' or cloudlet* of duM thr,.,|„tl v' >'<• Hying unresisted do. v, ,, nlnnets and comets tr',;,. ^ ^ K " ■■ 'v thin itif limit* of our iinn '"trolled |>y the :i11r:i•'
""" ' move with a syoed
anv n i"111" ' "'id, far exeeeding that ^ ^nn' iU '' '''tile. hut are too small £ ' V"'H when they enter ^•ted i,v ''"1. becoming intensely *-■ and : '""'■■ince they encounter i.rrv' aif Kn .i ,'! consumed in the wfof the ""thing reaches the sur^ *ttlin» !!!' 'xcePt> perhaps, a little
8 wowly as an imperceptible
"smoke." Occasionally, however, some,
mass larger than usual survives in part thc- j, fiery ordeal, and its fragments fall to thch ground as specimens of the material ol
"other worlds than ours." |1 y
The total number of these flying pebbles , jij interplanetary space must be enormous,; ,
An ordinary observer under ordinary cir-,. ' eumstances will average about eight an .
hour in a clear, moonless sky. Schmidt, .• of Athens, in the clear Grecian nil-, nearly /
doubles the number, and reckons about 15- ( to the hour for a single observer. It ifi j.j
found also that one person is able to note i , only about one-sixth of all that are visible . at his station by a party of observers suffi- i cieiitly large to watch the entire heavens,
minutely. Jt. therefore, we accept the es- . timate of .Schmidt, it appears that about.
2.200 must ordinarily come ' within the ; range of vision at any given station every i 24 hours, though, of course, those that fall
in the daytime cannot be seen. ,,
()n this basis, Professor Newton calculates that about twenty millions large
enough to be seen from Hie earth's surface : under favourable conditions enter our at-P niosphere every day. There are also multi- . tudes of others too small to be seen by the t eye. and it continually happens to a tele--: scopie observer working with a low power
that lie sees minute meteors dart acrossi1 bis fio 1 d of view.
