200 ASTEONOilT. 



Trhere absolutely no . ~as vMble to the naked eye or to photo- 

 graphs. Xo new brigiiL lines were visible in the coronal spectrtun. A 

 new line (K. 534) in the chromosphere was discovered by Prof. Eoce:- 

 TvooD, who, as well as Prof. TomsG, saw botli lines brightly reversed- 

 Prof. Baeekb and others saw the Franenhofer lines (dark) in the cor- 

 onal spectram ; they were very liiint. The polarization of the corona 

 was observed by several parties. The photographic observations of Pro- 

 fessors Hjlekxess and Wbight show it to be radial in direction- Prof. 

 Hasten^&s eye observations give tangential polarization. Such are the 

 main fiets of observation to be derived from the volume in question. It 

 is yet too soon to state the bearing of these fiicts upon existing theories 

 or to deduce any general conclusions fix>m them. 



COiEETS. 



The followuig comets were visible in 1879: 



A. Beoesex's periodic comet was first seen by Te5Epel on January 

 14. and on Pebmary 26 by Tebbtttt. It passed the perihelion on 3Iarch 

 30, and was observed till the end of May. It was found more than a 

 month earlier than Dr. Schtxze's ephemeris commenced. 



B. Te3IPEL^s periodic comet was first seen by him on April 24. and was 

 observed until the end of June. It passed the perihelion on 3Iay 7, ac- 

 cording to 3Ir. Eaoitl Gal 1 ike's elements. 



C. SwzFT found a pretty bright comet on June 16, which was inde- 

 pendently discovered by Wixnucbh on June 21. It was observed till 

 Augast 23. 



D. Palisa discovered a pretty Iwight comet on August 21, which was 

 seen as late as October 12 (the date of the perihelion passage). 



E. Another comet was first seen by Haetwig on August 24. The last 

 observation seems to be jfrom September 14. 



The spectram of Beoesex^s comet appeared this year very different 

 from what it was in 1S6S. It consisted of three bands, the central one 

 the brightest, and the least refrangible one excee<iingly faint. The 

 wave-lengths as determined by Xotr^sGr, were 46Si2, olTil- and 55-Si3w 

 The abnormal character of the spectrum in 186S (which only one othor 

 comet, that of Bo eeult, c. 1S77, has exhibited), has therefore disap- 

 peared, and the comet has now the ordinary spectrum.* 



The following comets were visible in 1880: 



Comet A, 1884). was first seen, probably, at the Cape of Goo«l IT y -. 

 Februarj' 1. It has been usually spoken of as the Great Southern C» ■ :- - c :. 

 Dr. B. A. GorxD, of Cordoba, Argentine BepubUc, says: '* It was bright- 

 est February 7 or 8. when its length was KP and its breadth If", but 

 its brightness not superior to that of the 3niky Way in laurmr An- 

 other observer says : '■'• The portion of the tail visible was about 31^ in 

 length and 2^ in width, its long, straight, narrow form resembling the 



* Tonag. y. XLS- .559, Oba. TIT. 56, Cludatie X. xs. 5. 



I 



