THE 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 

 AND JOURNAL. 



SO'h SEPTEMBER 1823. 



XXXIII. On M. Inghirami's Lists of the Occultations of 

 Fixed Stars. By F. Baily, Esq. 



To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Jou?-naL 



Gentlemen, 

 IVTANY of your readers are probably acquainted with the 

 -'--'- lists of the occultations of the fixed stars by the moon, 

 which M. Inghirami is in the habit of computing annually, for 

 the meridian and parallel of Florence. Tliose lists are, from 

 time to time, published in Baron Zach's Correspo7idance Astro- 

 nomiqiie, and also in the Milan Ephemeris : but they have 

 not yet assumed an English dress, nor been genei'ally cir- 

 culated in this country; although (according to the expla- 

 nation subjoined to the Nautical Almanac) they " afford a cer- 

 tain means of determining the longitude." Conceiving that 

 such lists computed for the meridian and parallel of Green- 

 loich might be useful and interesting not only to nautical per- 

 sons, but also to those who have observatories here, I com- 

 municated my wishes to M. Inghirami, who, in less than ten 

 days,, was so obliging as to send me a list ot all the occulta- 

 tions that will happen at Greenwich during the ensuing year 

 (182i) : and which I now forward to you for insertion in your 

 Magazine. 



The^;\s/ column denotes the day; the second, the name of 

 the star, or the constellation in which it is situated ; the third, 

 its magnitude; the foiirth, the catalogue from which it is taken; 

 where P and Z denote respectively the catalogues of Piazzi 

 and Zach, and L, the catalogues of Lalande inserted in the 

 Connaissance dcs Terns for the years 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 

 14-, and 15: the fifth, and sixth, the right ascension and de- 

 clination of the star for the dates assigned to those catalogues : 

 the seventh and eighth, the apparent time (at Greenwich) of im- 

 mersion and emersion ; and the last two, the distance of the 

 star from the centre of the moon, at those times. 



The present list contains upwards of 350 occultations : yet 

 they are by no means the whole that may be expected. For, 



Vol. 62." No. 305. -SV;j/. 1823. ' X our 



