14.2 REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. 



(1) Newcomb's centennial luni-solar precession requires an apparent correction 



of +0.53", making our result about half-way between those of Struve and 

 Newcomb. 



(2) Newcomb's centennial planetary precession seems to require a correction of 



only +0.06". 



(3) Newcomb's centennial motion of the equinox, N, now generally adopted, 



seems to require a correction of +0.79". 



All of these quantities appear to be established within small limits of prob- 

 able error, though the last seems to be unexpectedly large. 



Our new Catalogue contains 41 stars (two doubtfully) in the constellation 

 Taurus, which seem to belong to a cluster, of which the individual members 

 are moving with uniform direction and velocity in space. The facts of the 

 case seem to be very accurately indicated through the precision of the mo- 

 tions contained in our General Catalogue. There are many stars not contained 

 in our Catalogue that also belong to this cluster, which is scattered over an 

 area of sky nearly 15° in diameter, with pronounced condensation in its cen- 

 tral parts. The motions of the stars in this cluster are found to be accurately 

 convergent upon a point, of which the right-ascension for 1875 is 6^ 7™ and 

 declination -\-6° 56'. The inclination to the plane of the Galaxy of these mo- 

 tions in space is only — 5°. Through the motions in the line of sight of three 

 of these stars measured by Professor Kiistner of Bonn, the velocity in space, 

 with relation to the sun, of these motions is found to be about 46 kilometers 

 per second (28 miles). The cluster passed its nearest point to the sun about 

 800,000 years ago, in recent geological times. Its distance from the sun at 

 that time was approximately half its present distance. Its present distance is 

 indicated by a parallax of the center of the cluster of about 0.026", a quan- 

 tity too small to be measured with relative accuracy by direct measurement ; 

 but observers with powerful spectroscopes will undoubtedly be able to verify 

 the hypothesis which has led to the foregoing conclusions (uniform velocity 

 and directions of motion), so that we are likely to be ultimately assured of 

 the reality of this unique phenomenon. 



The new Catalogue contains evidence in regard to several other groups of 

 stars, smaller in number and extent, that exhibit phenomena of the nature 

 that characterizes the Taurus cluster, except that, owing to the small extent 

 of these clusters, it does not seem to be likely that the radiant or convergent 

 of any of these can be established at present. 



A large amount of work has also been accomplished in relation to the 

 larger General Catalogue, designed to embrace about 25,000 stars, and in the 

 interests of which the new Southern Observatory is about to be established ; 

 but as these consist mainly of masses of preliminary computation, the detailed 

 mention of them does not appear to be called for in this place. 



I can not close this brief report without mentioning my appreciation of the 

 zeal, loyalty, and efficiency which has characterized the labors of the staff 

 throughout the year. During most of the time 10 persons have been em- 



