HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



4i 



ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 

 By John Browning, F.R.A.S. 



VENUS will be an evening star during the first 

 half of the month, and a morning star near the 

 end of the month, setting about 7.29 P.M. on the 1st, 

 7. 1 1 p.m. on the 5th, and 6.29 p.m. on the 12th, and 

 5.41 P.M. on the 19th of the month. The fact that 

 this planet sets so early should not discourage ob- 

 servations being made of it, as it is best seen with 

 a telescope in twilight. 



Mercury will be too near to the sun for observation 

 this month. 



Saturn will be almost stationary in Gemini, setting 

 on the 5th about 5.19 a.m., on the 12th about 4.52 

 A.M., on the 19th 4.23, and on the 26th at 3.55 a.m. 

 On the 2nd of February Mercury, and on the 5th 

 Venus will be in conjunction with the moon. 



On the 1 2th of February there will be an occulta- 

 tion of y {gamma) Centauri, a star of the fourth 

 magnitude. 



I am indebted to Mr. W. G. Lettsom for the 

 following very interesting notices from the " Astro- 

 nomische Nachrichten." 



On the 1 6th of November the brothers Paul and 

 Prosper Henry, of the Paris Observatory, discovered 

 a new nebula in the Pleiades by means of photography. 

 It appears to start from Maia, taking at first a 

 westerly direction, and then turning abruptly towards 

 the north. On three occasions, namely on the 16th 

 of November and on the 8th and 9th of December, 

 photographs of it were taken ; but as yet it has not 

 been visible to the eye in any of the instruments at 

 the Observatory. This nebula is about 3' in extent. 



Position of new star now known as Nova in 

 Orion, R.A. 5 hr. 48 min. 59 sec, Declin. N. 

 20 9' 13"; it is therefore near x (^')> known also 

 as 54, a star visible to the naked eye. Its colour is 

 said by one observer to be a beautiful orange yellow, 

 by another decidedly yellow. On the iSth of De- 

 cember it was estimated of the 6 "5 magnitude. 



Discovery of a new comet by Brooks on the 26th 

 and 27th of December. First telegram, 12 hr. 56 min. 

 G.M.T., R.A. 19 hr. 52 min., Dec. N. 4 8'. Second 

 elegram, 28th of December, 11 hr. 44 min. g.m.t., 

 R.A. 19 hr. 59 min. 2 sec, Dec. N. 4 31'. The 

 physical appearance is : Circular, 3' in diameter, 

 ninth magnitude, strong eccentric condensation, no 

 tail. 



Speaking at the Royal Astronomical Society of 

 the meteor shower of the 27th of November, Mr. 

 Common said : " I was observing the meteors with a 

 field-glass for some time, and some of the brighter 

 ones that left streaks behind, visible to the eye for 

 two or three seconds, were visible in the field-glass 

 for nearly a minute. They had a peculiar appear- 

 ance, such as you see in De la Rue's vacuum 

 discharges, like a row of coins slightly separated. 

 Another thing that very much surprised me was, 



when the sky cleared between six and seven, and 

 when there were not many meteors visible to the 

 naked eye, there were a good many visible with the 

 field-glass. When observing this display between 

 5.20 and 5.25, no first magnitude stars were visible 

 through the haze, and yet behind this haze I saw 

 several bright meteors flash. From a quarter to six 

 to seven o'clock, when the sky was less clouded, I 

 counted them at the rate of twenty to thirty a minute, 

 looking at one part of the heavens alone. The most 

 noticeable feature was the number of small meteors 

 that were seen, and with the aid of the telescope the 

 great length of time that the trains of the large 

 meteors lasted. I noted one about 6.45, that ex- 

 ploded over Cassiopeia, which was far beyond a first 

 magnitude star, and more like Venus at her brightest." 



Mr. Nathaniel Green states, that on the 15th of 

 December he observed Saturn with a reflecting tele- 

 scope, and power 560, and he found, " the markings 

 of the outer ring were most clearly defined ; there is 

 no dark line indicative of division, but a band of 

 shading rather nearer to the outer than its inner 

 edge. . . . The small light belt following the broad 

 dark one next the equator, which was so wide in 

 1883, and less distinct in 1884, is now barely visible." 



In the drawing of Saturn made by the writer in 

 1868, two of these small light belts are clearly visible 

 on the globe of the planet in this position. 



The mean temperature of the week ending the 

 1 2th of December was ten degrees below the average 

 for twenty years. In the week ending the 19th of 

 December the temperature was i"6 above the average. 

 In the week ending the 26th of December the mean 

 temperature was o'l below the average. In the 

 week ending the 2nd of January the mean temperature 

 was two degrees above the average'. The mean tem- 

 perature of January for Lincoln is 38 , for London 39°, 

 and for Brighton 40 ; it is, therefore, the coldest 

 month of the year. The mean temperature of Feb- 

 ruary for Hull is 40 , for London 41 , and for 

 Southampton 42 ; the average temperature of the 

 month is, therefore, two degrees warmer than January. 



The rainfall during these four weeks was but very 

 little over | of an inch, yet it should be borne in 

 mind that this is equal to about 77 tons to the acre. 

 The average rainfall for January is in London full 

 two inches, and between London and the south coast 

 it is three inches, which is about 340 tons to the acre 



The winter of 1 884-1 885 was a long, cold, dry 

 winter, and the summer of 1885 was a cold dry 

 summer. I do not think it has been remarked how 

 much the weather during these twelve months was 

 influenced by the fact, that we had an unusual number 

 of overcast days, followed by clear nights. 



The clouds by day of course shut out the heat of 

 the sun, while the absence of clouds at night allows 

 the heat of the earth to radiate into space, and thus 

 the conditions of temperature are unfavourably affected 

 in both ways. 



