A revolution in 33·25 years corresponds to an ellipse whose major axis is 20·6. Consequently the aphelion distance would be somewhat greater than the mean distance of Uranus. It may also be worthy of note, that five periods of the ring would be very nearly equal to two of Uranus.
The _Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society_ for December, 1866, and January, 1867, contain numerous articles on the star shower of November 13th-14th, 1866. Sir John Herschel carefully observed the phenomena, and his conclusions in regard to the orbit are confirmatory of those of Professor Newton. "We are constrained to conclude," he remarks, "that the true line of direction, in space of each meteor's flight, lay in a plane at right angles to the earth's radius vector at the moment; and that therefore, except in the improbable assumption that the meteor was at that moment _in perihelio_ or _in aphelio_, its orbit would not deviate greatly from the circular form." The question is one to be decided by observation, and the only meteor whose track and time of flight seem to have been well observed, is that described by Professor Newton in _Silliman's Journal_ for January, 1867, p. 86. The velocity in this case, if the estimated time of flight was nearly correct, was _inconsistent with the theory of a circular orbit_.
It is also worthy of notice that Dr. Oppolzer's elements of the first comet of 1866 resemble, in a remarkable manner, those of the meteoric ring, supposing the latter to have a period of about 33-1/4 years. Schiaparelli's elements of the November ring, and Oppolzer's elements of the comet of 1866, are as follows:
Longitude of perihelion 56° 25´ 60° 28´ Longitude of ascending node. 231 28 231 26 Inclination 17 44 17 18 Perihelion distance 0·9873 0·9765 Eccentricity 0·9046 0·9054 Semi-axis major 10·3400 10·3240 Period, in years 33·2500 33·1760 Motion Retrograde. Retrograde.
It seems very improbable that these coincidences should be accidental. Leverrier and other astronomers have found elements of the meteoric orbit agreeing closely with those given by Schiaparelli. Should the identity of the orbits be fully confirmed, it will follow that the comet of 1866 _is a very large meteor_ of the November stream.
