56 



ASTRONOMICAL PROGRESS IN 1898. 



spectra, by an increase and decrease in their velocity 

 toward and from the Earth, that they are accom- 

 panied, but not eclipsed, by their dark disturbing 

 companions. It is almost certain that Eta Aquilla 

 and Delta (Vjilu-i belong to this class. 



Ki\<> binaries of the third class have been dis- 

 covered through the curious process of the doubling 

 i.f their spectral lines. The first discovered were 

 Mi/.ar ami Hcta Auriga, and recently Mrs. Fleming 

 has added Beta Lupi to the list, but the period has 

 not been discovered. The periods of some of them 

 are very short. The relative velocities of the com- 

 ponents of Mu* Scorpii, Argentina General Cata- 

 logue, No. 10.534. are 290 and 380 miles a second re- 

 spectively. Thesa are much greater velocities than 

 tnose of Mizar and Beta Auriga. 



"Harvard College Circular" No. 12 gave a de- 

 scription of the spectrum of Zeta Puppis, in which, 

 in addition to the usual series of lines of hydrogen, 

 a second series of rhythmetical lines were observed. 

 Prof. Pickering and II. Kayser, in their examina- 

 tion of these lines, came to the conclusion that they 

 are probably due to hydrogen under conditions of 

 temperature and pressure as yet unknown to us. 

 Some of these lines are also to be seen on photo- 

 graphs of the spectrum of 29 Canis Majoris. The 

 third and fourth of these lines coincide with the 

 principal lines in the V type. They are also present 

 in Gamma Yelorum, some being bright and some 

 dark. 



Stanley Williams announces an interesting fact 

 concerning the southern variable Lacaile 3105, dis- 

 covered a few years ago. At that time his observa- 

 tions indicated a period of four and a half days. 

 Other observers considered the period much shorter 

 than this. Prof. Pickering now announces that he 

 finds the star to be a spectroscopic binary, with a 

 period of 3.115 days, and Mr. Williams states that 

 half of this period, or 1.558 days, will satisfy all ob- 

 servations. This star is a double star as well as a 

 variable, which indicates that the variability is 

 caused by one component occulting the other. The 

 literature of variable stars, including their several 

 varieties, is very extensive, and is scattered through 

 many astronomical publications. 



Comets. Several comets, both new and ex- 

 pected, have appeared since the report of comets of 

 1897 was published, raising the number appearing 

 in one year above the average, while in 1897 the 

 number was much below the average. One remark- 

 able circumstance, unexampled in the history of 

 observational astronomy, was the discovery of five 

 comets in eight days three new ones and two 

 that were expected. Comet B 1897 was discovered 

 at the Lick observatory, by Mr. C. I). Perrine, on 

 the evening of Oct. 16. It was of moderate bright- 

 D6M, belli- easily seen with a 3-inch telescope. 

 It had a well-marked nucleus, of the brightness of 

 it star of the eighth magnitude, but was not a point 

 like a star. Instead i.f being round, as nuclei 

 always are, it was decidedly elliptical, the major 

 axis being twice as long as the minor. This is 

 proof that the nuclei of comets are not solid. In 

 the 36-inch telescope a tail 4' long was visible, but 

 it was 10 in length on a photographic plate. The 

 following elements have been computed for it. 

 which do not resemble those of any previous comet: 

 Time of perihelion passage, 1897, Dec. 8.55. (i 



Winnecke's periodic comet, an ephemeris of 

 which was widely disseminated among astronomers, 

 was discovered by IVrrine, with the 36-inch tele- 

 scope, on the morning of Jan. 2, 1898. It was very 

 faint. The correction to the ephemeris was verv 

 little. J 



Comet E 1898 was also discovered by Perrine on 

 the morning of March 20. It had a tailV in length, 

 the northern half being much brighter than the 

 southern. A photograph of it, taken with an ex- 

 posure of forty minutes, on the 25th, with a 24-inch 

 projecting lens, at Carlton College, Northfield, 

 Minn., showed two tails one straight, 2 long, point- 

 ing directly opposite the Sun ; the other curved 

 toward the rear of its motion. The following 

 elements have been computed for it : Perihelion 

 passage, March 17, two days before discovery ; 

 node to perihelion, 47 36' 8" ; longitude of node, 

 262 32' 26-3" ; inclination, 72 26' 50.4" ; perihelion 

 distance, 1.1003 ; period, 305.2 years. 



Encke's comet, which has the shortest period of 

 all the known periodics, was discovered within live 

 minutes of its computed place on the night of June 

 7, by John Grigg, of New Zealand. This comet, 

 unlike all the other short-period comets, seldom es- 

 capes detection on its return to perihelion. 



Comet C 1898 was discovered by Perrine on 

 June 14. The comet when brightest was faint and 

 without a nucleus. Near the end of June his two 

 comets, B and C, passed each other within half a 

 degree, this being the second instance of the passing 

 of two comets so near each other. The following 

 elements were computed for it by Berberich : Time 

 of passage, 1898, Aug. 16.338, Berlin mean time ; 

 from node to perihelion, 204 55' ; longitude of 

 node, 259 9'; inclination, 70 1'; logarithm of 

 perihelion distance, 9.8030. 



On June 17, 1898, Prof. W. J. Hussey, using the 

 36-inch telescope at the Lick Observatory, found 

 Wolf's periodic comet very close to the place 

 assigned it by Thrace's ephemeris. It was also 

 easily visible in the 12-inch telescope at that obser- 

 vatory. This was its second return since its dis- 

 covery by Max Wolf, at Heidelberg, Sept. 17, 1884. 

 It is a member of what is called the Jupiter family 

 of comets. 



On examining the negative plate of a photograph 

 of the region of Alpha Scorpii made for another 



Eurpose, on June 9, 1898, Mr. Coddington, of the 

 ick Observatory, noticed a faint streak on the 

 plate that looked as if it might have been caused by 

 an undiscovered comet. On making a. telescopic 

 examination of the region on the evening of June 

 11, his suspicion was verified. It was Codding- 

 ton's comet. When discovered it had a short, 

 broad tail, and was moving rapidly in a south- 

 westerly direction, and was soon too far south for 

 northern observers. The following elements have 

 been computed for it: Time of perihelion passage. 

 1898, Sept., 8.36, Greenwich mean time ; node to peri- 

 helion, 227 40' ; longitude of node, 73 58' ; inclina- 

 tion, 71 47' ; perihelion distance, 1.8003. 



A new comet was discovered on June 18 by M. 

 Giacobini, at Nice, France, in right ascension 20 h 

 36 m 28' : declination south 21 14'. or in Capricorn. 

 The following are its elements: Time of perihelion 

 passage, July 25.85, Greenwich mean tin:o; node to 

 perihelion, 22 41' 26.5"; longitude of node. 278 17' 

 30.3" ; inclination, 166 50' 58.1" ; logarithm of peri- 

 helion distance, 0.175956. 



Comet Perrine was discovered on Sept. 13, 1898, 

 and independently by Chofardet on the 14th. From 

 observations made on Sept. 12, 13, and 15 the fol- 

 lowing elements have been computed: Time of 

 perihelion passage, 1898, Oct. 19.9565, Berlin mean 

 time; node to perihelion, 165 56.29'; longitude of 

 node, 36 20.85'; inclination, 29 16.41'; logarithm 

 of perihelion distance, 9.57608. Its brightness on 

 Oct. 18 was eight times that at discovery. 



Tempers comet of 1867 escaped detection, al- 

 though a finding ephemeris was published. 



Meteoric Iron. Lieut. Robert E. Peary, travel- 

 ing in the region of Melville Bay, Greenland, in 



