Halley’s Shooting Stars

Lovely little surprise following mention of Halley in the diving bell post—the annual Orionid meteor shower will peak this evening and the next (early morning, October 21st and 22nd). What excited me is that the meteors happen to be debris left behind by Comet Halley—called the Orionids because the radiant point is in the direction of the constellation Orion, the Hunter. This shower has the potential to be of note because of a relatively moonless midnight sky. Viewing should be best between midnight and dawn. What a fantastic chance to see remnants of Halley’s Comet. B

Diving Bell

My newest obsession is the diving bell: a diving apparatus consisting of a container open only at the bottom and supplied with compressed air by a hose (date: 1661). I am currently immersed in compass and cartography research for a project and came across a lovely text about Edmond Halley, polymath, in Alan Gurney's "Compass: A Story of Exploration and Innovation." Many know Halley for the comet named after him (he accurately predicted its orbit), but this text introduced Halley walking along the bottom of the English Channel in a diving bell. How fantastic the scope of his interests (papers to the Royal Society during a one year period): "the transits of Venus and Mercury across the sun's face to determine the sun's distance from the earth; the physical mechanism of evaporation; measuring the thickness of gold upon gilt wire; Pliny's book of natural history; historical detective work; using astronomy and tides to locate the place and time of Julius Caesar's landing on England's coast; the speed of a bird's wing in flight; the measurement of wind and water forces; the refraction of light; the height to which bullets could be shot and fountains made to squirt; and a report on his diving activities where he had three men working for nearly two hours at a depth of ten fathoms." B