NEW STARS. 217 



On the 28th of April, 1848, at Mr. Bishop's private observa- 

 tory, (South Villa, Regent's Park,) Hind made the important 

 discovery of a new reddish-yellow star of the 5th magnitude 

 in Ophiuchus (R. A. 16 50' 59"; S. Decl. 12 39' 16", for 

 1848). In the case of no other new star have the novelty of 

 the phenomenon, and the invariability of its position, been 

 demonstrated with greater precision. At the present time 

 (1850) it is scarcely of the llth magnitude, and according to 

 Lichtenberger's accurate observations it will most likely soon 

 disappear. (Notices of the Astr. Soc., vol. viii. pp. 146 and 

 155-158.) 



The above list of new stars, which within the last two 

 thousand years have suddenly appeared and again disappeared, 

 is probably more complete than any before given, and may 

 justify a few general remarks. We may distinguish three 

 classes : new stars which suddenly shine forth and then after 

 a longer or shorter time disappear ; stars whose brightness is 

 subject to a periodical variability which has been already 

 determined ; and stars, like ? Argus, which suddenly exhibit 

 an unusual increase of brilliancy, the variations of which 

 are still undetermined. All these phenomena are, most 

 probably, intrinsically related to each other. The new star 

 in Cygnus (1600) which, after its total disappearance (at 

 least to the naked eye) again appeared and continued as a 

 star of the 6th magnitude, leads us to infer the affinity of 

 the two first kinds of celestial phenomena. The celebrated 

 star discovered by Tycho Brahe in Cassiopeia in 1572 was 

 considered, even while it was still shining, to be identical 

 with the new star of 945 and 1264. The period of 300 

 years which Goodricke conjectured, has been reduced by 

 Keill and Pigott to 150 years. The partial intervals of the 

 actual phenomena, which perhaps are not very numerically 

 accurate, amount to 319 and 308 years. Arago 5 has pointed 

 out the great improbability that Tycho Brahe's star of 1572 

 belongs to those which are periodically variable. Nothing as 



5 Arago, Annuaire pour 1842, p. 332. 



