celestial calendar

The June Lyrids andJames Joyce's UlyssesOne of these meteors, seen 100 years ago,

seemstobedescribed in a famous literary classic.

By Donald W.Olson and Marilynn 5. Olson

FOR MORE THAN three decades, meteorenthusiasts have been on the lookout foran elusive shower in mid-June with a radi-ant in the constellation Lyra. The first re-port of it appeared in the pages of Sky &Telescope {October 1966, page 237], in a let-ter from California observer Stan Dvorak:

UNEXPECTED METEOR SHOWERFROM LYRA

On the evening of June 15th, I campedin the San Bernardino Mountains, about70 miles east of Los Angeles. Weatherpermitting, I often sleep outdoors andwatch the heavens.

On this night I noticed a very brightmeteor moving swiftly to the northeastand passing through Lyra. Shortly there-after, another traveled in the same direc-tion. Since I usually carry a star charton these outings, I plotted meteors.

In IJ hours, I had recorded 16 meteors,all but three of which were members ofthe shower. Their magnitudes rangedfrom —4 to +4. The majority were veryswift and traveled in a northeasterly di-rection, appearing to radiate from rough-ly right ascension 1^^^, declination +30°,near the Lyra-Hercules border. Theircolors ranged from bright white to blue-green, turning yellow as they neared theirburnout points. The meteors left trainsvisible from three to six seconds.

Observers worldwide confirmed the ex-istence of the June Lyrids in the late 1960sthrough the 1970s, and then the activityceased. Yet the International Meteor Orga-nization (www.imo.net} states, "The proba-ble maximum in 2004 benefits from anearly-new Moon on June 15, and we urgeall observers who can to cover this possi-ble stream. The radiant is a fewdegrees south of the brightstar Vega. . . . All potentialJune Lyrids should be care-fully plotted, paying espe-cial attention to the mete-ors' apparent velocities."

Before 1966, meteoric as-

76 July 2004 Sky & Telescope

tronomy did not recognizeany annual shower in mid-June. But a possible earlyobservation is that ofGiuseppe Zezioli, whorecorded l l meteors radiat-ing from a point near 18''40"', +35°, on June 14, 1869[Memoirs of the Royal Astro-

nomical Society, Vol. 53, 1899,

page 273).

We believe that we haveidentified another earlyJune Lyrid, one carefullydescribed in a famouswork of fiction that isalways listed among thetop 10 novels of the 20th Irish-born writer James Joyce (1882-19A1) lived much of his adultcentury. life in Italy, Switzerland, and France. Carola Giedion-Welcker took

this photograph of Joyce in Zurich in 1938.The Meteor in UlyssesEvery year on June I6th,Dublin and many other cities around theworld celebrate "Bloomsday," in honor ofJames Joyce's novel Ulysses. The story par-allels the epic Odyssey by Homer, whichrelates the travels and adventures ofOdysseus in the Mediterranean whilecoming back from the Trojan War. Joycechronicles the wanderings of LeopoldBloom (the Odysseus of the story) andStephen Dedalus (standing in forOdysseus's son Telemachus) aroundDublin, beginning at 8 a.m. on the morn-ing of June 16, 1904. Joyce chose this datebecause it had personal meaning for him:it was the day that he first walked with his

of June 17th. Just as Stephen is taking hisleave, with new father-son ties forged be-tween them, a meteor streaks through theconstellations [Chapter 17):

What celestial sign was by both simulta-neously observed?

A star precipitated vrith great apparentvelocity across the firmament from Vegain the Lyre above the zenith beyond thestargroup of the Tress of Berenicetowards the zodiacal sign of Leo.

future wife, Nora Barnacle.In this complex novel, the journey

concludes with both characters togetherin the backyard of Bloom's house [7 Ec-

cles Street, at the north end ofDublin) in the early-morning hours

The design of the modern euro coin

from Ireland features a circle of stars

surrounding an Irish harp, a cousin of

the lyre. Collection of Donald W. Olson.

Throughout the novel, the characters,particularly Bloom, discuss or think aboutastronomical topics. Bloom is noted asbuying a book with "fine plates in i t . . .the stars and the moon and comets withlong tails. Astronomy it was about" (Chap-ter 10). He has a copy of Sir Robert Ball'sStory 0/ the Heavens in his library (Chapter17) and is familiar with Ball's discussion ofparallax. Among many other astronomicalreferences, the novel mentions an upcom-ing solar eclipse (Chapter 8), Tycho's su-pernova of 1572 (Chapter 9), and the con-stellations of "the great bear and Hercules

and the dragon, and the whole jingbanglot" (Chapter 10}. There is mention of theHyades with the bright star "Alpha, a rubyand triangled sign upon the forehead ofTaurus" [Chapter 14), the constellation"Orion with belt and sextuple sun thetaand nebula," surface markings on Mars,and the appearance of "new stars" likeNova Persei 1901 (Chapter 17).

Joyce almost certainly drew some pre-cise astronomical references in Ulyssesfrom his copy of a Dublin almanac, Thom'sOfficial Directory for 1904. For example,near the end of the novel, in the early-moming hours of June 17, 1904, Bloom de-scribes the "moon invisible in incipient lu-nation, approaching perigee" (Chapter 17).Both Thom's almanac and our computercalculations agree that a slender, waxingcrescent Moon (three days after new)would have set before 11 p.m. on June16th, and that a lunar perigee fell nearmidday on June 17th.

Problems with Timing

Although Joyce is a precise writer, he isalso experimental and difficult to follow.Thus, though each of the 18 chapters is as-sociated with a time of day and there aremany references to clocks, church bells,and hours, confusion still exists, particu-larly toward the latter part of the novel.Adding to the confusion, Joyce himselfprovided two conflicting timetables, onecreated for Carlo Linati in 1920 and anoth-er published by Stuart Gilbert in 1930.

After Bloom and Dedalus see the mete-or, they hear the "sound of the peal of thehour of the night by the chime of the bellsin the church of Saint George . . . . Heigho,heigho, / Heigho, heigho," indicating thehalf-hour in Westminster chimes. There-fore, as modem scholars have pointed out,the first part of Chapter 17 takes place be-tween 1:00 and 1:30 a.m. according to theLinati scheme, between 2:00 and 2:30 a.m.according to the Gilbert scheme, and pos-sibly even between 3:00 and 3:30 a.m.(Don Gifford with Robert J. Seidman,Ulysses Annotated, 1988, page 586).

Upper Transits

We realized that the time of night couldbe determined from Joyce's statement that

This chart of the sky above Dublin ot 1:00 a.m. local

meon time (1:25 Universal Time) on June 17,1904,

includes 0 meteor motching the description in

Ulysses. It begins neor Lyra (olmost overheod) ond

continues through Como Berenices toward Leo.

the meteor originated near the "Lyreabove the zenith." The bright stars of Lyracrossed the Dublin meridian, not farsouth of the zenith, at 12:54 a.m. (Vega),1:07 a.m. (Beta Lyrae), and 1:16 a.m.[Gamma). Dublin in 1904 had not yetadopted modern time zones, so readerswishing to check these times must useDublin local mean time, 25'" 21̂ behindGreenwich. For example. Gamma Lyrae'supper transit occurred at 1:16 a.m. Dublinlocal mean time, equivalent to 1:41 a.m.Greenwich (Universal) Time.

Joyce was aware of this time difference,corresponding to the longitude differencebetween Dunsink Observatory and Green-wich Observatory. Bloom notes thatDublin citizens passing the Ballast Officeread "Dunsink time" from the clock"worked by an electric wire from Dun-sink," and he also realizes that the timeball on the building [visible to ships in theharbor) indicates "Greenwich time" [Chap-ter 8). For more about that method of timesignaling, see "The Bygone Era of TimeBalls" by Ian R. Bartky [S&T; January1987, page 32).

The description of Lyra's position there-fore supports the Linati time scheme,with Bloom and Dedalus observing themeteor between 1:00 and 1:30 a.m.Dublin local mean time.

As the diagram below shows, the mete-

HERCULES

BOOTESr .

Arcturus

VIRGO 'COMA ,.BERENICES

Note to Reoders

Last month's Celestial Calendar was sa packedwith predictions of the tronsit of Venus that wehad to postpone this article and the next one hya month. Our July issue goes in the mail in lateMay, so we con still alert readers to a pair oflittle-known meteor showers thot might he seenin June 2004.

or described by Joyce descended from thevicinity of Lyra near the zenith, passeddownward through Coma Berenices, andthen disappeared near the horizon whereLeo was setting in the northwest. The de-tail and precision of this description sug-gest that James Joyce may have observed aJune Lyrid while walking with Nora onJune 16-17; 1904, more than six decadesbefore the shower was recognized.

This year marks the lOOth anniversaryof June 16, 1904, and people all over theworld are celebrating the centenary (seewww.reioycedublin2004.com). Perhaps af-ter a toast or two in an Irish puh, astron-omers can also observe Lyra passing nearthe zenith and — with luck — see another"celestial sign."

DON OLSON and MARILYNN OLSON are pro-

fessors of astronomy and English, respectively, at

Texas State University.

DRACO

URSA,MAJOR

Sky & Telescope July 2004 77