Report on November Leonids.

A detailed report on the observations of the November Leonids has been issued by professor W. H. Pickering of the Astronomical Observatory. As in every year since 1897, careful arrangements were made for close observations of the sky on a favorably night, which occurred November 14-15. A vigilant watch resulted in the enumeration of 275 meteors, of which number 183 were Leonids--a larger proportion than in any previous years except 1898 and 1901. In 1998, there were 781 meteors recorded; three years later 431 meteors were counted in the eastern half of the sky. The search this year began at midnight, meteors appearing from that time in increasing numbers until an hourly rate of 134 was reached, and a fine shower seemed imminent. The rate, however, suddenly fell off, averaging only between 50 and 60 per hour during the rest of the night.

Attempts to secure photographs of the metros met with little success, for, although a large portion of the sky was covered, the trail of but one Leonid was found on the plates. As a certain meteor seen shortly before 3 o'clock does not appear on the plates exposed at that time, it is at present believed possible to photography only meteors slowly moving, or of exceptional brilliancy.