[CONTENTS.]
| Page | |
| Introduction | [7] |
| CHAPTER I. | |
| The Meteors of November 12th–14th | [13] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Other Meteoric Rings | [26] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| Aerolites | [35] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| Conjectures in Regard to Meteoric Epochs | [50] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| Geographical Distribution of Meteoric Stones—Do Aerolitic Falls occur more frequently by Day than by Night?—Do Meteorites, Bolides, and the matter of ordinary Shooting-stars, coexist in the same Rings? | [56] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| Phenomena supposed to be Meteoric—Meteoric Dust—Dark Days | [65] |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| Researches of Reichenbach—Theory of Meteors—Stability of the Solar System—Doctrine of a Resisting Medium | [74] |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| Does the Number of Aerolitic Falls vary with the Earth's Distance from the Sun?—Relative Numbers observed in the Forenoon and Afternoon—Extent of the Atmosphere as indicated by Meteors | [79] |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| The Meteoric Theory of Solar Heat | [84] |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| Will the Meteoric Theory account for the Phenomena of Variable and Temporary Stars? | [92] |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| The Lunar and Solar Theories of the Origin of Aerolites | [96] |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| The Rings of Saturn | [102] |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| The Asteroid Ring between Mars and Jupiter | [105] |
| CHAPTER XIV. | |
| Origin of Meteors—The Nebular Hypothesis | [112] |
| Appendix | [123] |
[INTRODUCTION.]
A GENERAL VIEW OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
The Solar System consists of the sun, together with the planets and comets which revolve around him as the center of their motions. The sun is the great controlling orb of this system, and the source of light and heat to its various members. Its magnitude is one million four hundred thousand times greater than that of the earth, and it contains more than seven hundred times as much matter as all the planets put together.
Mercury is the nearest planet to the sun; its mean distance being about thirty-seven millions of miles. Its diameter is about three thousand miles, and it completes its orbital revolution in 88 days.
Venus, the next member of the system, is sometimes our morning and sometimes our evening star. Its magnitude is almost exactly the same as that of the earth. It revolves round the sun in 225 days.
The Earth is the third planet from the sun in the order of distance; the radius of its orbit being about ninety-five millions of miles. It is attended by one satellite—the moon—the diameter of which is 2160 miles.