Astronomers Classify Meteors

Nine meteors that never touched the earth have been analyzed and their constituent elements classified by astronomers of the Harvard Observatory. A momentary flash of light as these shooting stars passed overhead, fifty to seventy miles above the observer, was all that was needed for this scientific detective work.

The make-up of the meteors was revealed by an examination of their spectra as shown in photographs of their light taken through prisms. Six of them were largely composed of stone, and all contained iron.