January 4, 19 12] 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN, 



NATURE 



327 



Astronomical Occurrences for January :— 

 Jan. 4. I5h. 2oni. Nepiune in conjunction with the Moon 

 (Neptune 5° 39 S.). 

 ,, i6h. om. Mercury stationary. 



Q. 9h. om. Venus in conjunction with Jupiter (Venus 

 i°38' N.). 



13. loh. om. Neptune at opposition to the Sun. 



14. I7h. 57m. Jupiter in conjunction with the Moon 



(Jupiter 4° 6' N.). 



15. 5h. 26ni. Venus in conjunction with the Moon 



(Ver.us 5" 51' N.). 

 ich. om. Mercury at greatest elongation W. of the 

 Sun. 



16. 4h. om. Saturn stationary. 



,, i8h. 23m. Mercury in conjunction with the Moon 



(Mercury 5° 48' N.). 

 ]8. 23h. 51m. Uranus in conjunction with the Moon 



(Uianu3 4°33'N.). ., , o 



20. 7h. om. Uranus in conjunction with the bun. 



27. I2h. lom. Saturn in conjunction with the Moon 



(Siturn 4° 9' S.). 



28. I3h. 58m. Mars in conjunction with the Moon 



(Mars 0° 37' S.). 



Mars. — A telegram from Prof. Lowell, published in 

 \o. 4543 of the Astronomische Nachrichten, states that, 

 on December 17, 1911, the old south snowcap on Mars 

 had practically disappeared, and new spots were forming 

 outside. 



M. Jarry Desloges, telegraphing from the Sdtif Observa- 

 tory on December 16, 191 1, states that on December 15 

 the south polar cap was veiled, and that Libya, which 

 was grey at the beginning of the Martian afternoon, was 

 white towards sunset ; Deucalionis Regio, clear during the 

 morning, became grey in the afternoon. 



Four splendid photographs of Mars taken by Prof. 

 Barnard with the Vcrkes 40-inch refractor in September, 

 1909, are published on the frontispiece of the September- 

 October (191 1) Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 

 of Canada. 



ErUEMERIDES FOR COMETS 1911a, I9I1/, AND l<)llg- As 



the position of Wolf's comet (1911a) during the summer 

 will be unfavourable for observation, it is important that 

 observations should be made during the next few months, 

 and for this reason M. Kamensky publishes an ephcmeris, 

 extending to .April 7, in No. 4543 of the Astronomische 

 S achrichien ; observations already made show that his 

 fourth (KJ system of elements needs but small corrections. 

 It is hoped that observations will be secured, as they may 

 clear up the question of the possible enfeeblement of the 

 comet. The present position (January 4) is 2ih. 41- im., 

 — 1° 55-5', and the path lies nearly directly eastwards 

 through Aquarius and Pisces ; the magnitude is about 140. 



Qu^nisset's comet (1911/) is still moving nearly directly 

 southwards through Scorpio, and will soon enter Lupus : 

 R.A.= i5h. 49-6m., dec. = -31° 547'. In the ephemeris 

 published by Dr. Ebell the magnitude is 8-3. 



Beljawsky's comet (1911^) is also too far south for 

 observation in these latitudes. Dr. Ebell's ephemeris 

 shows it to be in Corolla, and its magnitude is estimated 

 as 8.6. 



A Peculiar Variahle Star. — The measures and light- 

 curve of the variable star 232848 Z .\ndroinedne, published 

 in Circular 168 of the Harvard College Observatory, show 

 the light-changes to be unique among stars yet observed. 

 F"or the last six years the magnitude has been nearly 

 constant at ii-o, but in 1901 there was a great outburst, 

 the magnitude becoming 92. Prior to that, since 1889 

 thf-re had been consid' r.il>l. n<i illntions of magnitude 

 between 11-5 and 97. 



This star is -(-4S°4oo3, mag. <)-5, and its variability was 

 discovered by Mrs. Fleming in looi, who, examining its 

 spectrum of October 17, 1900, recorded it as " Bright lines. 

 Nova or Var? " .\n examination of the spectrum plates 

 by Miss Cannon shows that the spectrum is unlike that of 

 variable stars, and r'-sembles that of several new stars. 

 On the best photographs it is seen to be like those of 



NO. 2201, VOL. 88] 



Nova Persei, No. 2, on April 12, 1901 ; Nova Geminorum 

 on March 29, 1903 ; and Nova Sagittarii, No. i, on April 

 21, 1898; it also resembles that of RS Ophiuchi on July 

 15, 189S, at or near the time of the remarkable outburst 

 of light in that object. 



In addition to the bright lines H/3, H7, H8, and He, 

 there is one at about \ 4688 which. Prof. Pickering 

 suggests, probably corresponds with the bright band in the 

 spectra of fifth-type stars. 



The Parallax of the Double Star Krueger 60. — 

 During the period August 20, 1907 to .April 10, 1910, Dr. 

 L;>u employed the 10-inch refractor of the Urania Observa- 

 tory, on fourteen nights, to measure the interesting double 

 star Krueger 60. From these measures he derived a value 

 for the parallax, which he now publishes in No. 4542 of 

 the Astrouomische Nachrichten. His result is 4- 0-22'' ± 

 0038", with a probable error from one equation of 

 ±0129" ; earlier measures by Barnard, Schlesinger, and 

 Russell gave, in the mean, the value 4-0-25''. 



The Height of Perseid Meteors. — Employing the 

 parallax method. Dr. Philipp Broch has calculated the 

 heights of the beginnings and ends of 102 meteor paths 

 observed during the period 1S23-58, and now publishes the 

 results in No. 4541 ot the Astronomische Nachrichten. 

 For all the meteors he finds the values 130-0 km. and 

 90-0 km. for the mean heights at the beginning and the 

 end of the flights respectively, the mean length of the 

 paths being 725 km. Of this number fifty-eight were 

 certainlv Perseids, and for these he finds the mean values 

 133- 1 km. and 955 km., respectively, for the heights, the 

 mean length of path being 72-0 km. 



The Lille Observatory. — In No. 4543 of the Astro- 

 nomische Nachrichten M. Jonckheere gives notice that his. 

 observatory, L'Observatoire d'Hem, taking the name 01 

 the prefecture under whose patronage it is. !« to be known 

 ofliciallv as the Lille Observatory. 



PRIZE AWARDS OF THE PARIS ACADEMY OF 

 SCIENCES. 



AT the annual meeting of the Academy of Sciences, held 

 on December 18, 1911, the prize awards for the year 

 were announced as follows : — 



Geometry.— The Francoeur prize to Emile Lemoine, for 

 the whole of his work in mathematics ; the Bordin prize 

 to A. Demoulin, for his researches on triple orthogonal 



systems. ,, x . / u- 



Mechanics.— Thv Monlyon prize to M. Jouguet, for his 

 contributions to thermodvnamics and chemical mechanics, 

 Captain Duchene receiving a recompense (500 francs) for 

 his mathematical study of the aeroplane; the I pncelet 

 prize to .M. Rateaii, for his work as a whole; the VaiUanl 

 prize (in equal parts) between Charles Doy^re and Henry 

 Willotte, for memoirs on the application of the principles 

 of the dynamics of fluids to the theory of h^lires ; the 

 Vaillant prize to M. Lii^nard, for his memoir on ih. move- 

 ment of an ellipsoid in a viscous liquid. 



Naviiiation.—A'hc extraordinary Navy pn/. I>riu,rt, M. 

 Dov6re (1500 francs), for his study of tli. Ixiulm:; ot .. 

 thin sheet or thin ring submitted to any forces whatcvr. 

 n Roussilhe (1000 francs), for his hydrographic work on 

 the coast of Madagascar. M. Leparmcntier (ickh) jnincs). 

 for his book on the calculations relating to inclined hulls. 

 G. Simonol (1000 francs), for his memoir on the resist- 

 ance of a cylindrical tube of infinite length submerged in 

 water, Pierre Lemaire (750 francs), for Im memoir on 

 the theory of the gyroscopic compass, and h. I err. t (,J,o 

 francs), for his work relating to nautical nstronomy ; the 

 Plumey prize to Roh( rt l-.long (looo franco), for h,s work 



on marine motors. » ■ i> f,>,- hi* 



Astronomy.-nv Lalande prize to Le^w.^ ho^^, for h.» 

 star catalogue; the Valz prize to C. R';- ' ''''\' ''T '^ 

 whole of his astronomical researches; '^'•, ' ' . ' , ' "^r 

 roulant prize (increased to i7ch> fmncs) to L. ^.hul.f, for 

 h s esearches on the theory of comets and on lunar tabl.-s ; 

 the Damoiseau prize (in equal parts) between M. MiUo- 

 sevich, M. Witt, and M. Lagnrde. . \t A^ 



Gc,.crafr/.v.-Tlu- Tchihatchef prize »>elwej^n M. de 

 Schok5lsky(one half) and M. Deprat and M. Mausery (one 



