ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA. 



ATHENS. 



portance, since it thereby appears that the nu- 

 cleus in the first days transmitted its own light, 

 perhaps on account of the incandescence to 

 which it was raised by its near proximity to 

 the sun. M. Poey, the meteorological observer 

 at the Havannah, Cuba, states that he has hun- 

 dreds of times proved by his experiments that 

 the polarization of luminous bodies in the ce- 

 lestial space is more or less combined with 

 atmospheric polarization, especially so with 

 the polarization of the clouds, except when 

 they are black or stormy. This may combine 

 with the light of a comet by reflection, but it 

 is easy to eliminate it by means of Nicol's prism 

 or a tourmaline. 



At Peru a local paper, the Bolsa, thus speaks 

 of it: 



On the Pth of June there appeared within the hori- 

 zon of this city a beautiful comet, with a nucleus of 

 the size of a star of the second magnitude, a very dis- 

 tinct coma, and a tail about 2 degrees wide, extending 

 diagonally across the heavens over a space of about SO 

 degrees. " By observations taken on the 14th and loth, 

 it rose the first day at 4.u'0 A. M., the second at 4.24, 

 the first appearance of the tail taking place 40 minutes 

 previously. On the 14th its position was in 24 degrees 

 south, i. e., outside the ecliptic, and close to the Tropic 

 of Capricorn, occupying the constellation " River Eri- 

 danus," the tail extending as far as the star of the first 

 magnitude, " Achernar." On the 16th it first appeared 

 in 22 degrees, showing that its course is toward peri- 

 helion. This comet bears a great resemblance to that 

 of I860, the return of which was predicted by Xewton 

 for 2,25"), and its position is identical with that occu- 

 pied by the great comet which was visible in this city 

 in March, 1843. 



AKEQUIPA, Jun-e 17. 



Professor Bond further remarks : 



" It is obvious from the elements computed 

 by Professor Hubbard, of the U. S. Naval Ob- 

 servatory, Washington, that this comet is not 

 the same as the comet of 1556, (called Charles 

 the Fifth's comet,) whose return has been an- 

 ticipated for several years ; nor do these ele- 

 ments bear any resemblance to those of any 

 comet in the published catalogues. We must 

 conclude, then, that this comet is a new one, 

 whose orbit has never before been computed. 



" The nucleus admitted of very precise ob- 

 servations ; indeed, it is a curious fact, that it 

 would be quite possible, by means of proper 

 comparisons with neighboring stars, to obtain 

 the differences of terrestrial longitudes of the 

 principal points at which it was observed with 

 a degree of precision only surpassed by the 

 more refined methods known in astronomy. 



" The near approach of the present comet to 

 the earth, and the sharply defined points of its 

 nucleus, illustrate the practicability of a meth- 

 od of determining the solar parallax with per- 

 haps greater exactness than can be attained by 

 any other means. Many comets have stellar 

 points for their nuclei, visible in the larger tel- 

 escopes, which admit of as accurate compari- 

 sons with neighboring stars as is practicable 

 in measurements among the stars themselves. 

 Miiny such have appeared within the last fifteen 

 years. Suppose such a comet to be suitably 

 placed so as to be observed simultaneously in 



different quarters of the globe, when at a dis- 

 tance from the earth of less than one-twentieth 

 of the sun's distance ; under favorable circum- 

 stances it would not be hazarding too much to 

 say, that in the course of its apparition the 

 probable error of the solar parallax could be 

 reduced within smaller limits than is possible 

 by means of transits of Venus or of any other 

 method. Such an opportunity might possibly 

 afford an improved value of the mass of the 

 earth. 



"From the elements computed at the obser- 

 vatory, by Messrs. Safford and Hall, the diame- 

 ter of the nucleus may be variously estimated 

 at from 150 to 300 or 400 miles. On July 2d, 

 the breadth of the head at the nucleus was 

 156,000 miles, the height of the inner envelope 

 11,500 miles, and the length of the tail about 

 15,000,000 miles/' 



The discovery of Asteroid No. 66, (Maia,) on 

 the 10th of April, was made at Harvard College 

 Observatory. On April 17th, No. 67 was dis- 

 covered at Madras, India, by Mr. AV. R. Payson, 

 lately appointed Director of that Observatory. 

 It was then of the llth magnitude, and has 

 been named Asia. On April 29th, No. 68 was 

 first seen by Luther, at Bilk, Germany, and 

 named Lato ; on the same day No. 69 was dis- 

 covered at Milan, by Sr. Schiaparelli ; and on 

 May 5th, No. 70, at Paris, by Goldschmidt, and 

 named Hesperia. 



The display of meteors in August was quite 

 brilliant. On the night of the 10th as many 

 as twenty-nine were observed at Newark, Xew 

 Jersey. Several of them were of unusual bril- 

 liancy. On the same evening the display was 

 noticed at Providence, Ehode Island, of which 

 an eye-witness remarks that they were visible 

 at times in all parts of the heavens, being most 

 numerous, however, in the southwest. Those 

 observed in that quarter radiated from a point 

 about ten degrees south of the zenith. Be- 

 tween eleven and twelve they were most nu- 

 merous, appearing in rapid succession, and 

 frequently two and three being visible at a time. 

 One was very large and brilliant ; the head or 

 nucleus was about five times the apparent size 

 of Venus, and emitted a very bright light. It 

 was followed by a trail about five yards in 

 length, which was visible nearly a minute. 

 Others appeared like stars of the first magni- 

 tude, and were also followed by trails which 

 were visible from ten to thirty seconds. Those 

 which were smaller were not followed by any 

 trails. At intervals throughout the night the 

 portion of the heavens near the zenith de- 

 scribed above continued to send off meteors. 

 In other portions of the heavens they were 

 not so numerous, and appeared at less regular 

 intervals. Some were very small, and were 

 visible only for a moment. Most of them shot 

 downward, in different directions and at va- 

 rious angles. 



ATHENS, a small village of Clarke County, 

 in the extreme northeast of Missouri, on the 

 Des Moines River, where a severe skirmish took 



