ASTRONOMICAL PEOGEESS AND PHENOMENA. 



evening of the 19th the eclipse could have been 

 observed most successfully. 



In Germany, the Berlin Observatory estab- 

 lished six stations on the central line of the 

 eclipse, together with some others near the 

 northern and southern boundaries of the total 

 zone, and many additional points were occu- 

 pied by well-known astronomers; but fog, 

 rain, and clouds prevailed to such an extent 

 that only at Nordhausen and Eisleben were 

 even partially successful observations obtained. 

 In Eussia, west of the Ural Mountains, at least 

 thirty different points were occupied by about 

 one hundred and fifty thoroughly-equipped as- 

 tronomers and physicists, many of whom had 

 traveled far to see the eclipse, but the weather 

 was so unpropitious that the corona was vis- 

 ible at only five of their stations. In Siberia, 

 where the sky was perfectly clear, only four 

 parties are known to have been located, and 

 their equipment was not of the first order. A 

 party from the United States was stationed 

 in Japan, but there again the weather was 

 bad. 



The Satellites of Saturn. Prof. Hall has pub- 



lished, in Appendix I to the " Washington Ob- 

 servations for 1883," a discussion of the orbits 

 of the six inner satellites of Saturn, his main 

 object being to determine, if possible, the mo- 

 tions of the perisaturnia, and the mass of the 

 ring. The observations of the satellites he has 

 discussed were made by Prof. Newcomb and 

 himself with the 26-inch Washington refract- 

 or, in 1874, and following years. Prof. Hall 

 finds from these observations that Ehea, Dione, 

 Tethys, Mimas, and Enceladus, move in orbits 

 sensibly circular a result which, of course, 

 sets aside any consideration of the motion of 

 their lines of apsides. From the elements of 

 Titan Ehea, Dione, and Tethys, the mean re- 



sult for the mass of Saturn is 



the 



8478-7 1-10 ' 



mass of the sun being taken as unity. 



Asteroids. Six of these little bodies were 

 added to the list during 1887, making the total 

 number now known 270. The following table 

 gives their numbers and names, the names of 

 the discoverers, the dates of discovery, and the 

 principal elements of the orbits, together with 

 the names of the computers : 



An asteorid, detected by Dr. Luther on April 

 11, and independently by Coggia on April 16, 

 proved to be Hesperia (69), which had been 

 looked for in vain in 1882, 1885, and in March, 

 1887. The rapid motion in right ascension of 

 (285) would seem to indicate that it approaches 

 quite near the earth, and is, therefore, suitable 

 for determining a new value of the solar par- 

 allax. Of the asteroids " unnamed " in last 

 year's article (256) has been called Walpurga, 

 (261) Prymno, (262) Valda, (263) Dresda, 

 (264) Libussa : (269) was the sixtieth asteroid 

 discovered by Palisa. Dr. de Ball has made a 

 careful discussion of all the observations of 

 Eucharis (181) obtained since its discovery in 

 1878. He has taken into account the perturba- 

 tions due to Jupiter and Saturn; and those 

 due to Jupiter seem likely to afford an accu- 

 rate means of determining that planet's mass. 



Comets of 1887. Including the periodic comet 

 of Olbers, six comets have thus far (October 1) 

 been discovered during the year. As it is now 

 possible to give to the new comets their per- 

 manent designations, we record them in the 

 order of perihelion passage : 



Comet 1886 VIII, the third comet discovered in 

 1887, was found by E. E. Barnard, of the Vander- 

 bilt Observatory, Nashville, Tenn., on Jan. 23, or 

 the morning of Jan. 24, civil reckoning, in the con- 

 stellation Cygnus. A preliminary computation of the 

 elements showed that the comet had passed perihelion 

 in the preceding November, hence it is catalogued with 

 the comets of 1886. Although a faint object when 

 discovered, and growing fainter as it receded from 



both the sun and earth, observations were obtained as 

 late as the end of April. 



Comet 1887 I, known as the "Great Southern 

 Comet," was detected by Dr. Thome, Director of the 

 Cordoba Observatory in South America, on Jan. 18, 

 1887. On the same evening it was seen at a village 

 near Cape Town, South Africa, and a day or two later 

 at several places in Australia, but it does not seem to 

 have become visible in the northern hemisphere. Dr. 

 Thome describes the comet as a beautiful sight to the 

 naked eye a narrow, straight, sharply -defined, grace- 

 ful tail, over 40 long, shining with a soft, starry 

 light against the dark sky ; beginning apparently 

 without a head, and gradually widening and fading 

 as it extended upward. Unfortunately, neither a 

 well-defined nucleus nor even the slightest condensa- 

 tion upon which to point could be made out at any of 

 the observatories where the comet was visible, and 

 we are thus without means of determining the orbit 

 with any degree of precision. In its physical appear- 

 ance the new comet bore a considerable resemblance 

 to the great comets of 1843, 1880, and 1882, and 

 it certainly passed within a few thousand miles of the 

 sun's surface. 



Comet 1887 II was discovered by "W. E. Brooks, 

 of Phelps, N. Y., on the evening of Jan. 22. 1887, in 

 the constellation Draco. It increased gradually in 

 brightness till about the middle of February, when it 

 was described as a bright telescopic object, about 3' in 

 diameter, with well-marked central condensation of 

 the tenth magnitude. The last observation published 

 was made at Geneva on April 20. 



Comet 1887 III was discovered by Mr. Barnard 

 on the night of February 16, a very faint nebulous 

 object with a rapid motion toward the north and 

 west. In physical appearance it presented no marked 

 variation from the ordinary telescopic comet during 

 the four or five weeks it was under observation. 



Comet 1887 IV. A third comet was discovered by 

 Mr. Barnard on the night of May 12, its position then 



