5G4 



REPORTS OF AMERICAN OBSERVATORIES. 



IV. Work proposed for the coming- year (1879-80) : 

 A continuation of the work of the past year is intended for the comiug 

 year, especially that of sun-spots with the 5-inch reflector, and watching 

 for the transits of inter-inercurial planets, and also comet-seeking and 

 locating new nebulae. To the better fitting of myself for comet-seeking 

 I propose to construct, the coming winter, a new reflector of 10 or 1U 

 inches aperture and short focal length. 

 VI. Additional information: 

 Several descriptive articles of the new comets of Swift and Palisa, 

 planetary phenomena, and sun-spots, in the daily press (principally Eoch- 

 ester, N. Y., Democrat and Chronicle), the Phelps Citizen (weekly), and 

 the Scientific American. 

 Last September, while observing Mercury one morning at the time 

 of its conjunction with Venus, I observed a dark 

 semicircular notch out of the illuminated portion of 

 Mercury, near the middle of the terminator, report 

 of which was sent to the STaval Observatory. It 

 occurred to me as having a connection with the 

 bright spot seen on Mercury at the time of its last 

 transit (seen independently by myself as well as 

 many others), and as confirming Proctor's notion of a hole through 

 Mercury. 



Location of observatory: (City) Providence; (County) Providence; 

 (State) Ehode Island. 

 Name of observatory : Seagrave Observatory. 



Longitude from Washington, E. h 22 m 34 8 .51. 

 Latitude, 41° 49' 46".4. 

 Authority for latitude and longitude: United States Coast Survey and 

 ourselves. 



I. Observers: 



F. E. Seagrave and Leonard Waldo. 



II. Instruments: 



(c) Equatorial instruments : Makers, Al van Clark & Sons; aper- 

 ture of objective, 8 inches ; magnifying powers of eyepieces, 1, 122 ; 2, 

 245; 3, 307; 4, 489; 5,011. 



(d) Spectroscopes: 1 spectroscope having a system of four whole and 

 two half prisms of 00° flint glass, which gives a dispersive power of ten 

 prisms, by reflection. 



(//) Clocks : 1 sidereal. 



(h) Chronometers: 1 sidereal; maker, Victor Kullberg, Loudon. 



III. Observations during tiie past year : 

 Erom August 1, 1878, to August 1, 1879. 



(a) Observations of Cassiopeoe to investigate its large proper motion, 

 and if possible to determine its parallax. 



(c) {&) Observations of the satellites of Saturn. 



