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Re: (meteorobs) meteor storm 1833-34
Hello Bill,
A very short contemporary account of the 1833 Leonid storm over South
Carolina is contained in the 1986 version of the Encyclopedia Brittanica,
as the author's introduction to the sub-section on meteor showers. The
writer of the account is not mentioned.
Reference:
Hey, M. H., & Rea, D. G., (1986), "Solar System/ Meteors,"
Encyclopedia Britannica (Vol 27, pg. 587).
Excerpt:
In the early morning
hours of November 13, 1833, a startling shower of mete-
ors was visible over most of eastern North America. An
eye-witness account from South Carolina bears testimony
to the effect produced.
"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 some with the bitterest cries,
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 towards the earth."
METEOR SHOWERS
It was first noticed on the occasion just described that
practically all the meteors seemed to be radiating outward
from a point in the constellation Leo. As Leo rose in the
east so did this position, called the radiant of the shower.
A shower is customarily named after the constellation In
which the radiant is located, hence the November meteors
are known as the Leonid shower...........
With some digging, further accounts of the event from the south might be
found.
Take care,
Jim
James Richardson
Tallahassee, Florida
Operations Manager / Radiometeor Project Coordinator
American Meteor Society (AMS)
http://www.serve.com/meteors/
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