1913 Great Meteor Procession

1913 Great Meteor Procession
Painting by Gustav Hahn as observed near High Park in Toronto.
DateFebruary 9, 1913 (1913-02-09)
Location
  • Canada
  • Northeastern United States
  • Bermuda
  • Tropical South Atlantic
Also known asThe Cyrillid Shower

On February 9, 1913, a significant meteoric phenomenon was reported from locations across Canada, the northeastern United States, Bermuda, and from many ships at sea as far south as Brazil, giving a total recorded ground track of over 11,000 km (7,000 miles), and becoming known as the Great Meteor Procession of 1913.[1][2][3][4][5] The meteors were particularly unusual in that there was no apparent radiant, the point in the sky from which meteors usually appear to originate. The observations were analysed in detail, later the same year, by the astronomer Clarence Chant, leading him to conclude that as all accounts were positioned along a great circle arc, the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.[6][7]

John A. O'Keefe, who conducted several studies of the event, proposed that the meteors should be referred to as the Cyrillids, in reference to the feast day of Cyril of Alexandria (February 9 in the Roman Catholic calendar from 1882 to 1969).

  1. ^ RASC.ca – The Great Meteor Procession (GMP) of 1913 February 9
  2. ^ RedOrbit – 100th Anniversary: Uncovering The Range Of The Great Meteor Procession Of 1913
  3. ^ Pickering, William H. (1922). "The Meteoric Procession of February 9, 1913, Part I". Popular Astronomy. 30: 632. Bibcode:1922PA.....30..632P.
  4. ^ O'Keefe, John A. (1968). "New Data on Cyrillids". Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 62: 97. Bibcode:1968JRASC..62...97O.
  5. ^ "The Great Meteor Procession of 1913", Sky & Telescope, Vol. 125 No. 2 (February 2013), pages 32–34.
  6. ^ O'Keefe, J. A. (1991). "The Cyrillid Shower: Remnant of a Circumterrestrial Ring?". Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. 22: 995. Bibcode:1991LPI....22..995O.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference chant was invoked but never defined (see the help page).