Star-Gazers May See Meteor Display Between Midnight and Dawn This Week--Astronomers Expect Return of Leonids

Watchers of the skies in the wee small hours this week may see the most important, if not the most spectacular, meteoric display of 30 years, according to Dr. W. J. Fisher, of the Harvard Observatory. The long missing Leonids, one of the most brilliant of meteor showers, should begin to be visible tomorrow night, between the hours of midnight and dawn.

The Leonids have shown up regularly three times a century for more than a thousand years, but failed to appear when last due at the beginning of the present century. Astronomers suspect that their failure was due to the huge planet Jupiter being too close to their orbit and pulling them off schedule.

This vast stream of meteors, which requires '33 years to make one trip around the sun, should be visible at its fullest in 1932. If the earth is to see them three years hence, beginning tomorrow night a few of the meteors should be visible. The stream is so rich that it takes several years to pass a fixed point, and if the old schedule is restored the earth center of the stream should come along in 1932.

A very few Leonids appeared last November, and if more are seen this week, predictions may be made about the coming great show. The entire civilized world is requested in a notice received from the Harvard Observatory to assist in searching for hitherto unknown records of past Leonid showers. Dr. Fisher, known as Harvard's "meteor fisherman", believes that a great many references to the Leonids exist which have not been found. He has already received notice of a chronicle in Syria, made in Damascus in the twelfth century, and containing astronomical observations as far back as the sixth century. Information has also been received that there are sources in China, and possibly in Japan, Korea, and Russia. Chinese writings are considered of special importance.

Ships' logs, church, missionary, Government and other records are among the sources where references to the showers may be found. Any information obtainable will aid the astronomers at the Observatory in predicting the return of the shower.