William Frederick Denning,
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
(1911)
“ Meteors look larger than they are, from the glare and flaming effect due to their momentary combustion. The finer meteors on entering the air only weigh a few hundred or, at most, a few thousand pounds, While the smallest shooting stars visible to the eye may probably be equal in size to coarse grains of sand, and still be large enough to evolve all the light presented by them. ”
William Frederick Denning,
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
(1911)
“ It is computed that twenty millions of meteors enter the atmosphere every day and would be visible to unassisted vision in the absence of sunlight, moonlight and clouds, while if telescopic meteors are included the number will be increased twentyfold. Ordinary meteors, in the region of the earth’s orbit, appear to be separated by intervals of about 250 m. ”
William Frederick Denning,
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
(1911)
“ In thus rapidly penetrating the air heat is generated, the meteor becomes incandescent, and the phenomena of the streak or train is produced. Before the object can pierce the dense lower strata of air its material is usually exhausted, but on rare occasions it withstands the fiery ordeal, and fragments of the original mass fall upon the earth. Multitudes of meteors infest space. On a clear moonless night one person may count eight or ten shooting stars in an hour. ”
