14 
ON THE ORBIT 
AND PHENOMENA 
« 2d. Its maximum elevation I thought to be in the N. E., near Cassiopeia. At 
the moment, my attention was so completely engrossed by the peculiar features of 
the meteor itself, that I did not see any stars whatever; but immediately after it 
had disappeared, and before changing my position, I endeavored to fix its path 
among the stars, and concluded that it passed very nearly in the line of the two 
loioest bright stars in Cassiopeia, if anything different, perhaps a little below them. 
I afterwards conversed with Mr. Aertsen, whose view was obstructed during the 
whole flight, and he thought it passed just about in the line of the above-mentioned 
stars. 
“ 3d. As to the approximate point of disappearance I can speak more confidently. 
I was standing on the roof of a shed at W. Gummere’s, directly opposite Mr. II. 
Aertsen, and the meteor disappeared behind a cloud (from which flashes of light 
ning were seen directly after, making the existence of the cloud certain) between 
the cupola of the Town Hall and the N. E. side of Mr. Gummere’s house, which 
limited my view; and as this space subtended an angle of only 13°, I could not 
well be many degrees in error as to the actual point of disappearance. I noted the 
relative positions of this point and the cupola at the time, with a view to subsequent 
measurement, and upon taking a theodolite to the spot, and directing the telescope 
to the point as near as possible, I found the result to be— 
“Azimuth (true) S. 81° E. Altitude 5° 27'. 
“We afterward took the instrument to Mr. Aertsen, who went to the spot where 
he stood, and fixed the telescope. The readings were— 
“Azimuth (true) S. 81§° E. Altitude 5° 32'. 
“ I got two of my friends to try the same instrument. They had had an equally 
good view, but had not noted the positions at the time, with any view to measure 
ment, and did not feel at all confident (as Mr. A. and myself were) of being able 
to give tolerable results. They were— 
“1. Azimuth S. 88° 30'. Altitude 9°. 
“2. Azimuth S. 85° 45'. Altitude 8°.” 
“ 4th. As to the time occupied by the flight, the first remark I made was that it 
exceeded half a minute, notwithstanding that I was fairly on my guard against the 
tendency to overestimate short intervals.—I had nothing definite to determine it by; 
but it fortunately happened that some of our party were in motion during nearly 
the whole time, and this afforded evidence of a positive character.” Mr. Marsh 
here gives an accurate drawing, showing the exact plan of Mr. Gummere’s house 
and the adjacent grounds, and the route taken by two different persons around 
the house, in order to keep sight of the meteor. One went 240 feet, and the other 
220, and, at his request, both repeated their respective movements, while he carefully 
noted the time by a watch. The results, after allowing 5 seconds for time spent in 
viewing the meteor after they stopped, were 40 seconds and 45 seconds. 1 
1 According to calculations, as shown in Table II, Mr. Aertsen first saw the meteor at 9h.42m. 31 sec., 
Mr. Marsh at 9h. 42m. 58 sec., and it went out of sight of the latter at 9h. 43m. 40 sec.; so that it 
was visible to Mr. Marsh for 42 seconds, and to Mr. Aertsen probably for more than a minute. It 
is probable, too, that those who went around the house did not see it sooner than Mr. Marsh did, as 
the house was, at first, directly between them and the meteor.