What was this shower of stars? Evidently--and this is not doubtful--the encounter with the earth of myriads of small particles of matter moving in space along the orbit of Biela’s comet. The comet itself, if it still existed, would have passed twelve weeks before. It was not, then, to speak correctly, the comet itself which we encountered, but perhaps a fraction of its decomposed parts, which, since the breaking-up of the comet in 1846, would be dispersed along its orbit behind the head of the comet.[1] [1] No doubt can remain of the identity of this swarm of shooting-stars with the comet of Biela. On November 27, 1885, the same encounter occurred. A magnificent shower of stars was observed all over Europe just at the moment when the earth crossed the comet’s orbit. Once in every thirty-three years we have a grand display of meteorites in November; tens of thousands being visible in one single night. The meteorites in that ring have their “year” of thirty-three earthly years, and once in the course of that long year our earth’s orbit carries her deep into their midst. In this single November ring there are myriads upon myriads of meteorites, spreading through millions of miles of space. Yet this system is but one among many. There is no reason whatever to suppose that the streams of meteorites cluster more thickly about the orbit of the earth, than in other parts of the Solar System. No doubt the rest of the planets come across quite as many. Indeed, the wonderful rings of Saturn are probably formed entirely of meteorites--millions upon millions of them whirling round the planet in a regular orbit-belt, lit up by the rays of the sun. Also it is believed that the meteorite families cluster more and more closely in the near neighborhood of the sun, rushing wildly round him, and falling by millions into the ocean of flame upon his surface. It has even been guessed that they may serve in part as fuel to keep up his mighty furnace heat. There is a curious cone-shaped light seen sometimes in the west after sunset. It is called the “Zodiacal Light,” and men have often been much puzzled to account for it. The shining is soft and dim, only to be seen when the sky is clear, and only to be seen in the neighborhood of the sun. This, too, _may_ be caused by reflected light from countless myriads of meteorites gathering thickly round the sun. CHAPTER IX. NEIGHBORING FAMILIES. We have now to take flight in thought far, far beyond the outskirts of our little Solar System. Yes, our _great_ Solar System, with its mighty sun, its planets, its moons, its comets and meteorites, its ceaseless motions, its vast distances,--even all this sinks to littleness beside the wider reaches of space which now have to be pictured to our minds. For our sun, in all his greatness, is only a single star--only one star among other stars--and not by any means one of the largest of the stars.