ASTRONOMICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



47 



Instrumentenkunde," describes a simple appa- 

 ratus, which he has devised tor the purpose of 

 rin;:tlH- readings of the wedge photom- 

 eter without disturbing the condition of the 

 eye by bringing up alight to read the microm- 

 eter-head. 



Herr Repsold has recently proposed a par- 

 tially automatic method of recording transits. 

 The transit is mounted so as to be virtually an 

 equatorial, with a small motion only in hour- 

 angle near the meridian. A star just before 

 transit is brought into the center of the field of 

 view, and the driving-clock started, so that the 

 star remains steadily in the same part of the 

 field, and its position in the field may be ob- 

 served with the right - ascension micrometer. 

 Meanwhile the telescope is following the star 

 up to the meridian, and on reaching the me- 

 ridian the clock-work is automatically discon- 

 nected and a record made on the chronograph 

 sheet. 



United States Xaval Observatory. Prof. William 

 ITarkness, of the executive committee of 

 the Transit-of- Venus Commission, has given 

 the preliminary results of the work of that 

 commission, which are detailed elsewhere. 

 The great equatorial has been used in observa- 

 tions on the fainter satellites and double stars. 

 The transit-circle work has been continued, as 

 in previous years, and comets and asteroids 



known as the Henry Draper Memorial has been 

 much extended. The second annual report of 

 the director on this work, shows that two tel- 

 escopes are kept at work at the observatory. 

 photographing stellar ppectra every clear night. 

 Four assistants are required in making the pict- 

 ures, and five are employed for measurements 

 and reductions. The report gives the mode of 

 testing the sensitive plates. Mrs. Draper has 

 sent to the observatory the 15- and 28-inch 

 reflectors constructed by L>r. Draper, which 

 are used in the above-mentioned work. In 

 continuation of the work of examining high 

 altitudes for the purpose of testing their suit- 

 ability for astronomical purposes. Prof. Todd, 

 of Amherst, tested some high points in Japan, 

 whither he had pone to observe the eclipse of 

 August, 1887. His report is favorable. 



In Parts 3, 4, and 5 of vol. xviii of the " An- 

 nals" are described Mr. Parkhurst's photomet- 

 ric measures of the asteroids, observations 

 made during the total lunar eclipse of Jan. 28, 

 1888, the photographic search tor a lunar satel- 

 lite, and Mr. W. H. Pickering's observations 

 of the tatal solar eclipse of Aug. 29, 1886. 



Tale College Observatory. Dr. Elkin's report 

 for 1887-'88 has been published. Heliometer 

 observations on the parallaxes of the ten first- 

 magnitude stars are completed. His results 

 are as follow : 



and star occultations by the moon, and obser- 

 vations of stars for the Yarnall Catalogue have 

 been kept up. Prof. Eastman began his zone 

 work with the transit circle about October 1st. 



Capt. R. L. Phythian has replaced Com- 

 mander Brown as Superintendent of this ob- 

 servatory. 



A circular " Relating to the Construction ot 

 a New Xaval Observatory " has been issued by 

 the Navy Department. The plans of the pro- 

 posed observatory have been completed. It 

 will be on Government property, at Georgetown 

 Heights, Washington. I). C., and will comprise 

 nine buildings. 1, the main building, 69 x 307 

 feet, which will contain the transit-room, li- 

 brary, etc. ; 2, the great equatorial building, 

 46x72 feet; 3, the clock-room, 18x20 feet; 

 4 and 5, observers' rooms, each 18x20 feet; 

 6 and 7. east transit-circle building and west 

 transit-circle building, each 30 x 40 feet ; 8, 

 prime vertical building, 18 x 20 ; 9, boiler- 

 house, 4o x 54. 



Harvard Collese Observatory. Through the con- 

 tinued liberality of Mrs. Draper, the work 



The value for a Canis Mincris (Procyon) 

 above given agrees well with the mean of the 

 values found by Auwers and Wagner. Struve 

 found for a Aquilae (Altair) a value of + - 18l", 

 and Hall's value for a Tauri (Aldebaran) was 

 -fO'102". O. Struve obtained very different 

 parallaxes for Aldebaran and Capella, and the 

 seven independent determinations of parallax 

 of a Lyr*e which have previously been made, 

 agree fairly well in assigning to it a parallax of 

 about -f 0'17". Dr. Elkin is now engaged on a 

 triangulation of the regions near the pole, to 

 get fundamental places of twenty-four stars ; 

 and in connection with Dr. Gill (at the Cape 

 of Good Hope) he will this winter observe the 

 opposition of Iris for the determination of 

 solar parallax. 



Liek Observatory. The Lick Observatory was 

 formally transferred by the trustees to the re- 

 gents of the University of California on June 

 1. 1888. Of the $750.000 left by Mr. Lick for 

 the purpose of building the observatory and 

 purchasing instruments, all has been expended 

 except, it is said, about $90,000. This is the 



