54 



NATURE 



[November 9, 191 1 



fisheries. The iKwk deals fully with the men of the North 

 Sea, and is t-mbeilish^d with colour and pencil drawings 

 and photographs.— Mr. William Lewis, of Duke Street, 

 Cardiff, is publishing for the Cardiff Naturalists' Society 

 the first volume of "The Flora of Glamorgan," including 

 the spermaphytfs and vascular cryptogams, with index. 

 rh«- work has Ix'en prepared under the direction of a com- 

 iiiitt.,; of th.,- Cardiff Naturalists' Society, and is edited by 

 Prof. .V. H. Trow. 



OVR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Hrooks's Comet, 1911c. — In addition to the ordinary 

 cometary spectrum, M. Bosler finds radiations at \\ 407, 

 405, 401, and 399 in the spectrum of the head of Brooks's 

 comet. A longer exposure on September 25 showed also 

 the tail radiations, and it was seen that XX 401, 425, and 

 456 extended some 1° 30' into the tail, while the radiation 

 at X 470 extended for not more than 30'. 



Prof. Inigucz, describing the photographs secured at the 

 Madrid Observatory {jComptes rendus. No. 17, October 23), 

 records seven condensations in the spectrum, viz. XX 555, 

 514, 472, 440, 423, 410, and 388. But the fourth and 

 sixth are multiple, the wave-lengths of their components 

 being 440, 434 and 432 and 410, 407, 405, 404, and 402 

 respectively ; X 388 is double. 



The comet is still visible near the horizon, south of east, 

 just before daybreak ; but, as will be seen from the follow- 

 ing ephemeris, by Dr. Ebell, the southern declination is 

 increasing, and the comet, receding from both sun and 

 earth, is becoming fainter : — 



Ephemeris 12)1. M.T. Berlin. 



& (true) 



log 



log A 



- 9 48-9 



- 14 104 

 -18 3-6 

 -21 317 



Borrelly's Comet, 19116, and Wolf's Comet, 1911a. — 

 A telegram from Dr. Meyermann to the Astronomische 

 Nachrichten announces that Borrelly's comet was observed 

 at Tsingtau on October 20. It was elongated, about 2' in 

 diameter, magnitude 10, had no tail, and was very 

 indistinct. 



M. Kamensky gives an ephemeris, extending to January 

 2, 1912, for Wolf's comet in No. 4528 of the Astronomische 

 Nachrichten. Only four observations of this faint object 

 during the present return have yet been recorded ; these 

 give corrections of the order of — o-5s. and —6' to the 

 ephemeris. Taking the magnitude on June 295 as 14-6, 

 as determined from Dr. Wolf's plate, M. Kamensky finds 

 that at no time this year will the comet be brighter than 

 the fourteenth magnitude. 



Mars. — M. Antoniadi's observations of Mars with the 

 large refractor at the Meudon Observatory commenced on 

 September 18, and a number of changes have already been 

 noted. Modifications of the colours of various parts of 

 the disc, with an abnormal pallor of the " seas," suggests 

 the presence of yellowish cloud in the Martian atmosphere, 

 such as has been noted at previous oppositions. A large 

 mass of white cloud completely veiled the region of 

 M. Cimmerium, M. Tyrrhenum, and Hesperia on 

 October 14. The complete veiling of so dark an area as 

 M. Tyrrhenum has not been seen since 1888, when the 

 series of observations commenced. The whiteness of Libya 

 on October 11 is attributed to overlying mist, which is 

 transparent when viewed normally, but increases in visi- 

 bility as the line of vision becomes more oblique, i.e. as 

 the area approaches the terminator. A very bright 

 terminator projection, probably due to cloud, was a very 

 prominent feature of the regions north of Icaria from 

 loh. 56m. to iih. 25m. on October 14; terrestrial clouds 

 then stopped observations (Astronomische Nachrichten, 

 ^'o- 4532). 



The Sun's Energy Spectrvm and Temperature. — In 

 No. 3, vol. xxxiv., of The Astrophysical Journal Mr. 



NO. 2193, VOL. 88] 



Abbott discusses the distribution of energy in tl 

 spectrum as derived from the spectro-bolometric oL>s' 

 tions made at .Mount Wilson, Mount Whitney, and W 

 ington during 1903-10. He discusses at length the var 

 possible errors and the conditions which might mo-: 

 more or less, the derived results. The distributioi. 

 energy outside the atmosphere is tabulate, and the eiv 

 is shown to reach a sharp maximum at about 0470 /^ 

 table of atmospheric transmission coefficients is also gi 

 The results appear to ha independent of the obser'. 

 station, but sensitive to the character of the spectros' 

 used, and little weight must be given to values for w 

 lengths beyond 040 fi where glass prisms are employe'! 

 quartz-magnalium system was used latterly. 



Mr. Abbott also discusses the question of the s 

 temperature, and finds that the sun's effective emissio 

 comparable with that of a " black body " at 6000' 

 absolute, although he considers this is modified con«>; 

 ably, and that the actual radiating temperature is mor 

 the order of 7000° C. absolute. 



.\ Daylight Meteor in Solth Africa. — Some acco 

 of a wonderful meteor, which provided a striking spec; 

 some time before noon on August 24, are recorded by 

 Innos in Circular n of the Transvaal Observatory, 

 phenomenon was seen by several persons located > 

 Potchefstroom ; but the reports are not strictly in aci 

 ance. .Mr. Innes suggests the possibility of the se\ 

 observers having seen portions of a broken-up metec: 

 such brillianc}' as to arrest their attention in full sunli. 

 Mr. Ingham, chief engineer of the Rand Water B< 

 estimates that when he saw it the meteor was not n 

 than 400 yards distant, had a head 5 or 6 inch*- 

 diameter, and a flame, like that of burning sodium, ext 

 ing some 12 to 15 feet from the head. No " find 

 recorded. 



The Period and Epoch of 68 u Herculis. — In No. ^ 

 of the Astronomische Nachrichten Dr. Hertzsprung 

 cusses the long series of observations of the variation- 

 68 M Herculis made by J. F. J. Schmidt during i860 

 He finds for the period 205io27d., which agrees with 

 spectroscopic results, and for the commencing epoch 

 chief minimum, taking the mean of Schmidt's and r* 

 observations, J.D. 2410102-321 M.T. Greenwich, 

 period shows no apparent variation. 



The Astronomical Society of Barcelona. — One of 

 objects of this society, upon which special stress was 

 at its foundation in January, 1910, was the provision 

 a public observatory where members might meet on 

 evenings to study celestial phenomena and to di- 

 points of astronomical interest. It is pleasant to r* 

 that the primary object of the promoters has been real 

 very unexpectedly, and without cost to the society, in 

 such a manner that within the next few weeks the 

 members will be in absolute possession of a well-equip" ^ 

 observatory. Sefior Rafael Patxot y Jubert has oft 

 to present his observatory and instruments to the so< 

 and, needless to say, the offer has been accepted.- 

 establishment, the Observatori Catald, is situated at 

 Feliu de Guixols, in the province of Gerona, and in im; 

 ance stands next to the observatories of Madrid and 

 Fernando. The Vv'hole establishment will be rem 

 immediately to Barcelona, where it will be re-erecte<' 

 the roof of one of the public buildings. 



The instruments include a double equatorial by Mai! 

 visual and photographic, with apertures of 8J inches 

 focal lengths of 10 feet and 7 feet 9 inches respecti' 

 A complete set of accessories of precision is includf( 

 the gift — spectroscope, micrometer, camera, electric 

 dulum, and azimuthal theodolite. .Annexed to the ob?' 

 tory in its new position will be a room for meeting 

 the society, library, photographic laboratory. &c. Prer 

 tions for the public lunar exhibition, which will be 

 in Barcelona in ' May, 1912, are being pushed for 

 rapidly, and already many promises of assistance have 

 received from all parts of the world. The exhibition 

 be held in the University buildings, under the hon< 

 presidency of the rector. Baron de Bonet. The executiv 

 council of the society invites the cooperation of spl^no- 



