Skip to main content

Script for 'The Night Sky in August', 1959-08

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0180/RGO 45/349

Scope and Contents

Two copies of Porter's script for 'The Night Sky in August' on meteors originating in outer space, rather than as an atmospheric phenomenon, and Thomas Jefferson's opinion on this idea; Venus being at inferior conjunction on 1 September, Mars being also at conjunction, Jupiter and Saturn being visible in the evenings, and Mercury being visible in the mornings at the end of the month; Pegasus, Andromeda, the Pleiades and Aldebaran; Perseus and the Perseids, and the shift in the date of the Perseid shower - an ancient meteor stream traced back over 830 years; the relation to Comet Tuttle of 1862 and the assumption of direct relationships between comets and meteor streams; the showers caused by Comet Giacobini, the recent recovery of this comet by Dr Roemer at Flagstaff, dust in space falling on the Earth and detection of meteors by photography and radar; and the possible risk to space craft from meteors, the density of meteors and the probability that meteorites are debris from the asteroid belt.

Dates

  • Creation: 1959-08

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

From the Management Group:

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Extent

9 page(s)

Language of Materials

English

Finding aid date

2007-04-13 12:44:07+00:00

Includes index.

Repository Details

Part of the Cambridge University Library Repository

Contact:
Cambridge University Library
West Road
Cambridge CB3 9DR United Kingdom