The most brilliant and remarkable specimen of a " shooting
star " that we re- collect to have ever witnessed passed over the Metropolis last night. At fifteen minutes to ten, the atmosphere became suddenly lighted up with an intense glare, fully as strong as the brightest moonlight, but of a lurid, blueish tinge; and the attention of every one who happened to be in the open air was immediately attracted to the magnificent phenomenon passing over head. The meteor first made its appearance, in the shape 'of a globe of fire, a little South of the zenith, and shot across the 'heavens towards the North, until it became extinguisheid after passing a few degrees beyond the Polar star, and then the fiery train which it left behind appeared broken into two; the shorter part being nearest to the nucleus and disappearing first after it, whilst the remaining part, which seemed to be more than 20° in length, retained its vivid brightness for about thirty seconds. The most singular feature in the phmnomenon was then observed. The train, which had been changing gradually from the bright phosphoric white to a dull red, assumed a serpentine appearance, which soon changed into a semicircular one, and per- fectly resembled a cluster of minute stars; gradually becoming fainter and fainter, until, after a lapse of nearly five minutes, it quite vanished. The pluenomenon excited very general interest. The atmosphere was beautifully clear, and seve- ral shooting stars on a small scale were observed during the evening.—Morning Chronicle.
On Tuesday night, the 8th instant, about twenty minutes before eight o'clock, p.m. a most magnificent meteoric body was observed to pass along the south- western range of heights over Cloghrennan, in the county of Carlow. It appeared
be about twice the size of the moon when full; of a circular form, intense ntense brilliancy. Our informant describes its motion as resembling a rocket or bounding of a spent cannon-ball along the surface of the hill; the luminous body seeming to touch the earth at intervals of about one hundred yards, its average height above the ground being apparently four yards; it remained in sight for the space of ten minutes, and during that period seemed to traverse a distance of nearly foul' miles, and ri
was finally lost to view in the glen or valley near Bilboa church. The night was calm but dark, and our informant described the effect of the meteor as grand in the extreme. Contrary to what might have been expected, there was not much light diffused from it, with the exception of a momentary luminous train, which remained behind as the meteor rushed along.—Kilkenny Moderator.
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