112 RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1886. 



a^iiiii bej^iii.s to take i)lacc. lu this manner the phenomena of manj^ 

 variable stars may perliaps be accounted for." 



Dr. von Kiivesbijethy observing with a 7-inch Merz equatorial at the 

 observatory of Baron Podmaniczky at Kis Kartal, in Hunj;ary, an- 

 nounced the reai)i)earance of the I\ora on September 20, 1880. From 

 this date he found that it became more star-like, and up to the evening 

 of October 2 both uucelus and new star were visible. From October 

 2 to 0(;tober 17 the old nucleus was invisible. By October 23 the nu- 

 cleus had assumed its normal state, but the new star was not seen. 

 A number of telesi;o[)es were immediately turned u])on the nebula, but 

 in the main failed to detect the changes suspected. {>See Astrou. Nachr., 

 275()-27">2.) It is probable that the object seen was one of the very 

 faint points of light known to exist near the nucleus of the nebula. 



A veiy comi)lete series of observations of A^oiJa Andromeda) is given 

 by Dr. Copelaiid, of the Dun Echt Observatory, iu the Monthly No- 

 tices for December, 1880. 



CataJofjne of colored stars. — Mr. W. S. Franks has ju'esented to the 

 Royal Asti'oiiomical Society a catalogue (not printed, apparently) of 

 1,730 colored stars situated between the pole and — 20° of declination, 

 and incliulingall stars down to the G.-5 magnitude. The introduction 

 to this catalogue, giving a tabular analysis of the colors recorded, is 

 published in the .Monthly Notices for April, 1880. 



We should mention also a list of thirty-one prominent colored stars of 

 the southern hen)isphcre published by Mr. A. S. AVilliams iu the Astro- 

 nomical Register lor October. 



Mr. Chambers stated at the meeting of the Eoyal Astronomical So- 

 ciety on March 12, 1880, that he was prei)aring a catalogue of red stars. 



STELLAR PHOTOMETRY. 



Photometric ohscrvatioiis at Harvard CoUcye Observatory. — Professor 

 Pickering, in his annual report, states that 50,800 separate photometric 

 comparisons were made with the meridian photometer in 1880. The in- 

 strument has been found to give entire satisfaction both in the accuracy 

 and the rapidity of its work. Various tests have been ai)plied to de- 

 tect the presence of systematic errors, but so far with negative results. 

 "A comparison of the seven hundred stars common to the observations 

 of Wolff, I'ritchard, and the Harvard Photometry, showed that our re- 

 sults differed on the average from Wolff, after allowance for systematic 

 differences, by 0.140 of a magnitude; from Pritchard by 0.145; while 

 Wolff" and I*ritchard differed from each other by 0.192. A comparison 

 of the tifty live stars j)roposed by Professor Pritchard as standards, aiul 

 measured by him on several nights, showed that the average deviation 

 from the Harvard Photometry was only 0.104. - - - A comparison 

 between the results obtained at Pnlkowaand Cambridge shows that the 

 average deviation of a measurement of the difference in brightness be- 



