ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA AND PROGRESS. 



35 



ern States on the morning of November 13th, 

 Mr. Brooks, of Phelps, N. Y., describes it as 

 the most brilliant he had seen in many years. 

 Its light was estimated as equal to that of the 

 moon at first quarter. Streamers and auroral 

 waves arose from the northern horizon to the 

 zenith. A feeble aurora was also seen on the 

 following evening. 



November I7th-20th. Another extraordi- 

 nary aurora was seen very generally through- 

 out the Northwestern States and Territories on 

 the nights of November 17th and 19th. An ob- 

 server at Wooster, Ohio, who witnessed the 

 great aurora of 1859, describes that of Novem- 

 ber 17th as surpassing it in grandeur. In Minne- 

 sota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Dakota, the dis- 

 play was extremely brilliant, the brightness 

 being greater than that of the full moon. As 

 seen "in Indiana and the adjacent Northwestern 

 States, that on the night of the 19th was 

 scarcely less magnificent. Its greatest bright- 

 ness was between the hours of 1 and 6 A. M. 

 In some places the light was so great that per- 

 sons arose, supposing it to be daylight. The 

 aurora was preceded and attended by a violent 

 magnetic storm both in Europe and America. 

 Large sun-spots one visible to the naked eye 

 were seen a day or two before the aurora. 



TRANSIT OF VENDS. A.t the last session of 

 Congress, a committee was appointed to take 

 charge of all matters connected with the ob- 

 servations of the transit of Venus on Decem- 

 ber 6, 1882. This committee consists of the 

 Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, the 

 President of the National Academy of Sciences, 

 the Superintendent of the United States Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey, the Superintendent of 

 the Nautical Almanac, and two professors 

 from the Naval Observatory. An appropria- 

 tion of $85,000 was also made to meet the ex- 

 penses connected with the observations. Eight 

 stations four in the northern hemisphere and 

 four in the southern were selected for the 

 observations. Each party of observers con- 

 sists of four members a chief astronomer, a 

 photographer, and an assistant to each. The 

 stations and aotronomers-in-chief are as fol- 

 lows: 



STATIONS. Chief Astronomers. 



"Washington, D. C Prof. William Harkness, TJ. S. N. 



Fort Thorn, N. M Prof. Geo. Davidson, TJ. 8. C. & G. 8. 



Cedar Keys, Fla Prof. J. R. Eastman, U. 8. N. 



San Antonio. Texas . . . Prof. Asaph Hall, D. 8. N. 



Santiago de Chile Prof. Lewis Boss. 



New Zealand Mr. Edwin Smith, U. 8. C. & G. 8. 



Santa Cruz, Patagonia. . Lieut. 8. W. Very, U. 8. N. 

 Cape of Good Hope .... Prof. 8. Newcomb, U. 8. N. 



At the station last named, the sun will set 

 with Venus on his disk, and at New Zealand, 

 ingress will have taken place before sunrise.* 



The Executive Committee of the Royal So- 

 ciety of London, acting under the authority of 

 the Treasury, have selected thirteen stations 

 for the observation of the transit, and the gov- 

 ernments of Continental Europe have made 

 similar arrangements. 



NEW DETERMINATION OF THE EARTH'S MEAN 



* This article was written before the date of the transit. 



DENSITY. A new and ingenious method of find- 

 ing the earth's density has been devised and 

 applied by Professor von Jolly, of Munich. 

 On the top of a tower, seventy-three feet high, 

 was placed a pair of scales. To each plate of 

 the instrument a wire was attached which, 

 passing through a zinc tube, reached within 

 less than four feet of the earth. To the lower 

 end of each wire another plate was attached, 

 and under one of these was placed a globe of 

 lead one metre in diameter. Bodies placed 

 first in the upper scales, and then in the lower, 

 had a measurably greater weight in the latter. 

 Again, bodies weighed more or less in the 

 lower scale, according as the leaden globe was 

 present or absent. The differences of these 

 weights furnished data for determining the 

 ratio of the earth's density to that of lead. 

 Mr. von Jolly's experiment gave a mean den- 

 sity of 5-692, the density of water being unity. 

 This slightly exceeds the value obtained by Mr. 

 Bailey. 



MINOR PLANETS. The following asteroids 

 were discovered in 1882 : 



It is thus seen that of the eleven minor 

 planets, discovered since January 1, 1882, the 

 indefatigable Palisa has detected nine. 



The elements of these new members of the 

 group, so far as determined, are as follows : 



It is seen from this table 1. That the orbit 

 of No. 224 is nearly circular ; 2. That those of 

 Nos. 225, 226, 227, and 228, are very eccen- 

 tric; and, 3. That the perihelion distance of 

 the last (228) is about equal to the aphelion 

 distance of Mars. 



The following minor planets have been re- 

 cently named : 



No. 205. Martha. 



" 207. Hedda. 



" 208. Lachrimosa. 



" 210. Isabella. 



" 211. Isolda. 



" 212. Medea. 



" 213. Lilaea. 



No. 214. Aschera. 

 " 215. CEnona. 

 " 216. Cleopatra. 

 " 217. Eudora. 

 " 218. Bianca. 

 " 219. Thusnelda. 



