Captain Ronald to Mr Fallows.
Observatory, Cape of Good Hope,
20th October 1829.
"Sir,—As it may not be uninteresting perhaps to make some record of the circumstances attending the appearance of a meteor which was observed last evening, I beg leave to convey to you the following notice: remarking that having seen it only through the open roof of the Observatory, which prevented me from following the direction it took, my report must necessarily be so far incomplete.
"At the time of the occurrence of the phenomenon in question, about ten in the evening, I was in the Transit-room, engaged in observing the passage of a star, when a blaze of intensely vivid light was observed a little to the West of North, about the height of the Equator, and which continued for perhaps a couple of seconds.
"While registering the observation, a loud report was heard nearly in the same direction, resembling that of a piece of heavy ordnance at the distance of two or three miles. The interval between the flash and the report reaching me, must have been between the limits of 2m 40s and 2m 45s, from the circumstance of my having observed the light just before the star (g Ceti) had come to the second wire[86] of the instrument, which, on referring to the transit-book, would have taken place at 23h 57m 47s·6 nearly, and therefore the occurrence of the phenomenon may be safely referred to 23h 57m 45s; and as, on hearing the report, I immediately consulted the Sidereal clock, which indicated 0h 0m 30s, I think that the error in assuming the elapsed time as above cannot be supposed to amount to five seconds.
"There was little peculiar in the state of the weather or atmosphere; the day had been rather more than usually cool, the highest temperature being 68° Fahrenheit, the wind from the south, and moderate, with slight passing showers. The evening was nearly clear, with a light air from the south-west, atmosphere rather dry; the barometer standing at 30in·20, and the thermometer at 52°, and both were observed to rise suddenly after the explosion, the barometer by 0in·01, and the thermometer by 0°·1, though they regained their original position in a short time afterwards.—I have, &c.,
"W. Ronald.
“By referring to my Meteorological Journal, it appears that a meteor of somewhat similar appearance was noticed in Cape Town early on the morning of the 6th November last year.—W. R.”
[85] i.e., 20 miles to the South, 25 to the East, and 15 to the North.
[86] The Transit of g Ceti (2 Ceti) over the second wire, on this day is blank; and the word “meteor” is written in the margin. The first and third wires are 23h 57m 27s·9 and 23h 58m 7s·4.