REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 21 



In the case of a comet, the word bright or faint should be added. 



5. Next, the daily motion, as near as the first observations allow it to 

 be estimated. 



For a minor planet in opposition, the motion in right ascension is ap- 

 proximately evident, and it is therefore sufficient to indicate the motion 

 in declination, in minutes of arc, preceded by the word north or south. 



For a comet, the direction of motion should be indicated by south, 

 west, north, east, or by a combination of two of these words, which must 

 be understood always (also below the pole) in reference to the equator, 

 not in reference to the horizon. If the comet has a rapid motion, the 

 number of degrees per day, as estimated, may follow. 



G. Finally, the date of the position (having regard to Art. V) indicated 

 by the day of the week. 



The day of sending (civil reckoning, of course) is always written 

 at the head of the dispatch by the telegraph operator (the United 

 States law requires also the hour), and it may be presumed that the com- 

 munications only exceptionally fail to reach the center stations (Art. I), 

 even those on the other side of the Atlantic, on the same day. In 

 order, however, to be independent of any delay of the operator, and 

 agreeably to the wishes expressed by high astronomical authority, the 

 date is now embodied in the dispatch by naming the week day, whereby 

 at the same time all ambiguity is removed as to whether astronomical or 

 civil date be meant. 



7. Should it be deemed desirable to communicate the authority for the 

 discovery, the shortest way would be to insert the name as the second 

 word in the dispatch (after "planet" or "comet"). For example, the 

 following dispatch, " Planet K. 1ST. twenty-three thirty-five forty north 

 twenty-one forty-six eleventh south three Wednesday," would be inter- 

 preted thus : A new planet is discovered by X. N. At midnight (see 

 Art. V) between Wednesday and Thursday it will be in right ascension 

 23 1 ' 35 m 40 s , aud declination +21° 46' ; it is of the 11th magnitude, and 

 has a daily motion of 3' towards the south. 



Or a dispatch like the following, " Comet N. N. twenty-two forty- 

 three ten north sixty-five thirty-one bright southeast two Monday," 

 would announce the discovery made by N. 1ST. of a bright comet, that at 

 midnight Monday — Tuesday will be in right ascension 21 >h 43" 1 10 s and 

 declination -f 05° 31', the declination decreasing, the right ascension in- 

 creasing, moving daily about two degrees. 



The preceding examples contain the greatest number of words (10) 

 required for any dispatch, if composed according to the rules adopted 

 above. Usually the number will be less. Sometimes, however, the dis- 

 patch thus composed would become equivocal, and it has, therefore, 

 been established as an additional rule that the number expressing the 

 minutes of right ascension or declination shall always be expressed in 

 words, even when zero occurs. Therefore 23 h m 40 s should be written 

 " twenty three nought forty," while " twenty three forty" will be under- 



