[meteorite-list] Which meteorite showers were visible in the USA in December 1847?

[Chris Peterson]

They used to be called the Bielids. These were definitely being studied 
closely by astronomers in 1847, and there is a record of their 
observation for that year. I have no idea if the 1847 shower was strong 
enough to attract public interest- it certainly was no great storm. If a 
paper were reporting on the scientific observation, it would probably 
have been after December 6.

The Geminids are another possibility, although this shower was not known 
before the 1860s. But that doesn't mean that the debris stream wasn't 
there, or that we couldn't have encountered a dense region in 1847. 
Geminids are active in the first week of December, although they peak in 
mid-December (and did so 100 years ago, as well).

Chris

*******************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

On 12/13/2011 9:20 AM, chris aubeck wrote:
> Hi Chris,
>
> I did consider the Andromedids but I didn't think they'd be visible or
> much discussed. Would the interest expressed in that shower have been
> published before or after December 6th?
>
> Also I checked 19th century newspaper archives for the term
> "Andromedids" but couldn't find anything for 1847.
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Chris