A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 55 



responding altitude of the moon above the horizon. By com- 

 bining these observations again, he derives a table for correct- 

 ing all his observations for the influence of the absorption of 

 the earth's atmosphere, which table is very nearly identical 

 with that which has been previously obtained by others for 

 allowing for the influence of the earth's atmosphere in ab- 

 sorbinsT the lioht of the moon and stars. 



The final result of Lord Rosse's investigation is that, as the 

 moon reaches the full, the increase of the heat radiated to the 

 earth is more rapid than at any previous time since the new 

 moon ; a result similar to that obtained by Zollner in studying 

 the brightness of the moon. Proc. Roy, Soc.^ Aprils 1873. 



THE METEOK OF JUNE 17, 1873. 



The brilliant meteor that appeared over Southern Germany 

 and Bohemia on the l7th of June last, has been made the sub- 

 ject of an attempt by Yon Niessl to determine the orbit and 

 magnitude of this body. The meteor was seen to break into 

 many pieces, and the sound of the explosion was heard as a 

 fearful noise, while the fragments fell burning to the earth, 

 some of them having been actually secured by the inhabitants, 

 and are described as being of the size of peas, and having 

 something the appearance of sulphur. Yon Niessl concludes 

 that the altitude of this body, when it was first seen, was 

 about eight and a half miles above the earth, and when it ex- 

 ploded w^as about four and one third miles. In attempt- 

 ing to determine what orbit this body must have been de- 

 scribing about the sun before it came into the earth's atmos- 

 phere, he assumes that its motion may have been in a hy- 

 perbolic orbit, and that it must have passed nearest to the 

 sun in the latter half of July, at Avhich time it was distant 

 from the sun about six tenths of the earth's distance. The 

 diameter of the meteor, whether it w^ere a compact mass or 

 a collection of small masses, is concluded to have been about 

 1000 feet. Astro?!. JVach., 1873, 165. 



ON THE ALTITUDE OF SHOOTING-STARS. 



Dufour relates a most interestinsr observation in connection 

 with the shower of shooting-stars on the 27th of November 

 last. He says that during that same evening he was in 

 Switzerland, at Morge. The heavens were entirely covered 



