ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND PROGRESS. 



39 



of 1807, and its period exceeds two thousand 

 years. 



The third comet of the year was detected on 

 the morning of June 14th, by Dr. J. M. Schae- 

 berle, at Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was observed 

 telescopically more than three months, one 

 third of which time it was visible to the naked 

 eye. The striking resemblance of its elements 

 to those of the third comet of 1822 is seen by 

 the following comparison : 



On the night of July 6th a great outburst of 

 the comet was observed at Cincinnati, Ohio, by 

 Mr. Wilson and Professor Stone. The former 

 first noticed a peculiar glare on the side toward 

 the tail. The appearance was that of a large 

 jet of matter, of a red or exceedingly bright 

 color, shooting out from the comet. The phe- 

 nomenon was so striking as to suggest the in- 

 cipient separation of the comet into parts. 



Encke's comet was detected on August 20th, 

 by Dr. Hartwig and Professor Winnecke, with 

 the six-inch comet-seeker of the Strasburg Ob- 

 servatory. This was its twenty-ninth return 

 since its first appearance in 1786. The posi- 

 tions of this body are observed and discussed 

 with a lively interest at each successive return, 

 as Encke's celebrated theory of a resisting 

 medium must stand or fall by the evidence de- 

 rived from its motion. 



The fifth comet of 1881 was discovered on 

 the morning of September 19th, by Professor E. 

 E. Barnard, of Nashville, Tennessee. Its ele- 

 ments are somewhat like those of the comet of 

 1698, as is shown by the following comparison : 



Another comet, the sixth of the year, was 

 discovered October 4th, by Mr. W. F. Denning, 

 of England. Its appearance was that of a small, 

 round nebula with a bright, central nucleus. 

 Herr Palisa has computed the following ele- 

 ments : 



Perihelion passage 1881. Sept. 12. 



Longitude of perihelion 22 18' 5" 



Longitude of ascending node 72 6 17 



Inclination .' 7 85 57 



Perihelion distance .' .' 0-725 



Elements have also been computed by M. 

 Schulhof, of Paris, and Professor S. 0. Chand- 

 ler, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The period, 

 according to the former, is seven years and 

 nine months; according to the latter, eight 

 years and four months. The orbit makes a 

 rather close approach to that of Jupiter, near 



its descending node, so that the comet is occa- 

 sionally liable to considerable disturbance. 



On the evening of November 16th, Dr. Swift, 

 of the Warner Observatory, Rochester, New 

 York, discovered a faint comet in Cassiopeia 

 the second detected by him since May 1st. 



The Meteors of August and November. The 

 number of meteors seen about the 9th and 10th 

 of August, 1881, was less than usual a fact 

 partly due to the brightness of the moonlight. 

 The shower of November 14th-15th also failed, 

 no Leonids having been seen in certain places 

 where looked for. According to the " National 

 Republican" of November 15th, a meteor of 

 great brilliance was seen at Washington, D. 0., 

 about five o'clock on the morning of the 14th. 

 It was described as a broad band of meteoric 

 light starting from a point a little west of 

 north, and about 60 above the horizon. This 

 meteor, which was visible at least ten seconds, 

 was probably a member of the Leonid stream. 



Motions of the Fixed Stars. The monthly 

 notices of the Royal Astronomical Society for 

 January, 1881, contain a fourth paper by Sir 

 George B. Airy on spectroscopic results for the 

 motions of stars in the line of sight, observed 

 at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Ac- 

 cording to this table, the following are the rates 

 of motion of certain well-known stars : Of 

 the two pointers in the Dipper, Dubhe, that 

 nearer the pole-star, is approaching the sun at 

 the rate of twenty-seven miles per second, 

 while Merak is receding with nearly equal ve- 

 locity. In the same asterism, Phekda, Migrez, 

 Alioth, and Mizar, are all receding at the aver- 

 age rate of sixteen miles per second, while 

 Benetnash is approaching the solar system 

 with a velocity of eight miles a second. In the 

 Square of Pegasus, Alpheratz, Algenib, and 

 Markab, are approaching at the rates of thirty- 

 three, forty-six, and thirty-four miles per sec- 

 ond, respectively, while Scheat is approaching 

 at the rate of nineteen. The distance of Cas- 

 tor is increasing twenty -five miles per second, 

 and that of Pollux decreasing at the rate of 

 twenty-six. The distances of Aldebaran and 

 Regulus are both increasing ; the former twenty 

 miles per second, the latter twenty-six. 



The Distribution of the Variable Stars. In 

 " The Observatory " for September, 1881, Mr. T. 

 E. Espin gives the following results of a careful 

 study of the distribution of the variable stars : 



" 1. The variable stars show a decidedly 

 well-marked zone inclined 15 or 20 to the 

 equator. 



"2. This zone crosses the preceding side 

 of the galactic circle north of the equator, and 

 the following south of it. 



" 3. In crossing the preceding side of the 

 galactic circle, the zone is not many degrees 

 broad, and is very clearly marked ; where it 

 crosses the following side it is broken up into 

 two streams. 



"4. The division into two streams occurs 

 where the galaxy is also divided into two 

 streams. 



