Now there is the resolution of an astronomical mystery; in Walt Whitman's poetry collection "Leaves of Grass", he poetically described a meteor procession, which is a succession of bright meteors across the sky.
According to this article, "Astronomers solve Walt Whitman meteor mystery", researchers studying Whitman's poem came to the conclusion it described a real event. They narrowed down the time-frame, then sought supporting documentation.
One of the first supporting pieces of evidence was a painting by Frederic Church, famous landscape painter, that one of the scientists had seen. Based on this, and the date noted for when the artist saw the event, they confirmed that Whitman was in the right place to see it too, then found newspaper accounts of the event, which occurred on July 20, 1860.
The Church painting
Pretty good work. And they are out there, we know; this meteor procession zipped through the atmosphere and just missed Earth impact.
No comments:
Post a Comment