A>Ti:o.\o.MY, I'KOCKKSS oF, IN 1893. 



47 



showers being quite distinct. The radiant of one 

 is in 1 1!) 4- 29 , that of the other in 109 + 84. 

 In the hours and ;i half <>no observer counted 66 

 shut M iiij, p stars, ami 12 belonging to u secondary 

 >howor in 11? -t :{( . On eaeh of 1 1m nights of 

 1'tv. !), 11, and 12 a fine slow-moving Geminid 

 leaving a bright train was observed at three dif- 

 ferent places, furnishing data for computing 

 their height, \\it.h the following result for that 

 of l>ec. 9 : Height at beginning and ending was 

 ill and 57 miles respectively. Length of visible 

 path, 75 miles. Velocity per second. 80 miles. 



Of bright bolides the usual number has been 

 ol .served, two of which were photographed, both 

 showing brilliant knots or condensations in their 

 trains. 



Astronomical Prizes. The gold medal of 

 the lioyal Astronomical Society of England was 

 awarded to Prof. H. C. Vogel for spectroscopic 

 and other astronomical achievements. 



The I .a la in le prize (doubled) was bestowed on 

 Dr. E. E. Barnard for the discovery of the fifth 

 satellite to Jupiter, and on Prof. Max Wolf for 

 his astronomical discoveries. 



The Damoiseau prize has been given to M. Ra- 

 dau for his work on lunar inequalities of long 

 period caused by the planets. 



The Valz prize was awarded to M. Puiseux for 

 his equatorial " coude " and other instruments. 



M. Tachini has secured the Janssen prize for 

 his solar records. 



Two Donohoe bronze comet medals have been 

 received by W. R. Brooks for the discovery of 

 two comets comet d on Aug. 28, 1892, and 

 comet a on Nov. 19 of the same year. 



Dr. Barnard was given the Donohoe medal for 

 the photographic discovery of comet e on Oct. 

 12, 1892. 



.Mr. Edwin Holmes, of London, England, was 

 awarded the Donohoe medal for the discovery on 

 Nov. 6, 1892, of comet /. 



The Donohoe medal will probably be presented 

 to Mr. Alfred Rordame for the discovery of, and 

 for first announcing the naked-eye comet b on 

 July 8, 1893. 



The rule governing the award of the Donohoe 

 comet medal is, that he who first discovers the 

 comet and immediately announces such discovery 

 to some observatory shall be its recipient. Ror- 

 dame. as above, found comet b on July 8, and at 

 once telegraphed the fact to the Warner Observa- 

 tory, and was therefore for some time supposed 

 to be entitled to the medal ; but late advices in- 

 dicate that M. Roso de Luna, of Logrosan, Estre- 

 madura, Spain, saw the comet on July 4, and on 

 July 6 announced it to the Director of the Mad- 

 rid Observatory as a new star, so that probably 

 the medal will be bestowed on him. 



The Yerkes Telescope. This giant refrac- 

 tor, the object glass of which is 40 inches in di- 

 ameter, or 4 inches larger than any yet made, is 

 approaching completion, and makes an era. in 

 the science of optics. The objective is being 

 ground, figured, and mounted in cell by Alvan 

 G. Clark, of Cambridgeport, Mass. The mount- 

 ing of the instrument is the work of Warner & 

 Swasey, of Cleveland, Ohio. The appended fig- 

 ures will assist to form a correct idea of the enor- 

 mous dimensions of some of its parts : The tube 

 of the instrument, made of steel, is 62A feet in 

 length exclusive of the eye end. It is divided 



into three sections, viz., the eye, the middle, and 

 the object sections. Its object end is 43 inches 

 in diameter, its eye end 38 inches, and the mid- 

 dle 53 inches. The steel of the middle section 

 is one quarter of an inch in thickness, and the 

 entire tube weighs 6 tons. Its polar axis is a rod 

 of hardened steel 15 inches in diameter and 13 

 feet long, weighing about 8$ tons. The declina- 

 tion axis, also of hardened steel, is 12 inches in 

 diameter and weighs If ton. 



The pier of cast iron is made in five sections 

 strongly bolted together, each section being 7 

 feet in height. The bottom section weighs 18 

 tons, and each of the others 5$ tons. The weight 

 of the entire pier, which rests on Bolid masonry, 

 is about 45 tons. Prom the base of the iron pier 

 to the center of motion is 43| ftet. When the 

 telescope is pointed to the zenith the object glass 

 will be 72 feet above its base. To avoid the use 

 of an observing chair of such an immense height, 

 the floor will be raised and lowered in a manner 

 similar to that of the Lick Observatory, at Mount 

 Hamilton, Cal. The driving clock to move the 

 telescope westerly, at a rate equal to the appar- 

 ent motion of the celestial sphere caused by the 

 earth's rotation, will weigh l ton, and will be 

 controlled magnetically. The observatory that 

 is to receive this telescope will surpass all others 

 in size, and is now in course of erection at Lake 

 Geneva, Wisconsin, 75 miles north of Chicago. 

 It is to be elaborately equipped with the best 

 modern instruments for telescopic, photographic, 

 and spectroscopic investigations. Tne steel dome, 

 85 feet in diameter, will be revolved, the shutter 

 opened and closed, and the floor raised and de- 

 pressed by an electric motor, and hence but little 

 manual labor will be required for their manipu- 

 lation. 



Catalogues. Dr. John M. Thome, Director 

 of the Argentine National Observatory, at Cor- 

 doba, has published Vol. XVI of the " Results," 

 in which are given the positions and magnitudes 

 of 179,800 stars, and Vol. XVII, now in a for- 

 ward state, will contain 160,580. The arrange- 

 ment of the publication is the same as that of 

 Argelander's JDurchmusterung of the Northern 

 hemisphere, with the exception that, instead of 

 being referred to the mean equinox of 1830. the 

 positions are brought forward to that of 1875'0. 

 The probable errors of the positions are given as 

 0'42 S and 0'23'. The average number of 

 stars observed in a square degree is 56' 1, while 

 the corresponding number in the Northern cata- 

 logue of Argelander is but 15'2. A long list of 

 stars supposed to be variable is appended. 



The publication is very valuable, especially for 

 Southern observers. 



Dr. S. C. Chandler has issued a second cata- 

 logue of variable stars, which, from the pains- 

 taking labor involved in its preparation, may be 

 regarded as a complete resume of our present 

 knowledge of variables. The positions are given 

 with great accuracy, and are for A. D. 1900'0. 

 Numbers are prefixed to indicate their colors, 

 very red, red, and reddish. The catalogue is 

 supplemented by a list of 90 stars, the variability 

 of which the author considers plausible. It is 

 published in Vol. XIII, No. 12, of the "Astro- 

 nomical Journal," to which the reader is re- 

 ferred, where full data accompanied by notes 

 may be found. The catalogue proper is com- 



