302 



NATURE 



\yan. 26, 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Cape Observatory. — The second portion of the data 

 upon which the forthcoming Cape Catalogue for 1885 will be 

 founded has recently appeared. The first portion, containing 

 the results of the meridian observations made during the years 

 1879, 1880, and 1881, was published by Dr. Gill some time ago, 

 and the present volume gives the results from the beginning of 

 1882 to February 8, 1885, when, the programme for the observa- 

 tion of the fundamental stars of Schonfeld's Dttrchmtistening 

 — which stars will form the most important part of the Catalogue 

 — having been completed, further work with the transit instru- 

 ment was suspended. An additional reason for the internxption 

 of the meridian observations lay in the desirability of re-polishing 

 the object-glass, and of replacin:^ the micrometer .t^crews of the 

 circle microscopes, which were of gun-metal, by steel screws. 

 The investigation of the errors of the screws used in the present 

 observations forms the most important portion of the introduc- 

 tion, for the effect of wear upon them has attracted Dr. Gill's 

 special attention, and has already formed thesubject of a lengthy 

 paper by him in the Monthly Notices of the R.A.S., vol. xlv. 

 The transit instruments of the Cape and Greenwich Observa- 

 tories are almost exactly alike in construction ; it is therefore 

 interesting to note that there are evident differences in their 

 behaviour ; thus the mean horizontal flexure of the Cape instru- 

 ment, as determined by the collimators, amounts to nearly half 

 a second — o"'462 — whilst that of the Greenwich telescope is 

 almost insensible. 



The introduction is followed by 144 pages giving the separate 

 determinations of the various instrumental corrections, the 

 readings of the transit-circle thermometers, &c. The ledgers 

 and catalogues for the years 1882, 1883, and 1884 occupy the 

 remaining 400 pages, the catalogues for the three years contain- 

 ing respectively 863, 444, and 130 1 stars, reflex or sub-polar 

 observations of stars being counted separately. 



The Parai-LAx of Mars. — We have received a letter from 

 Mr. C. G. Stromeyer, calling attention to the fact that Mars is 

 stationary on March 4, and urging the desirability of determining 

 its parallax by the diurnal method, the rather that it will then 

 be near two sixth -magnitude stars, as will be seen^ by the 

 following positions 



Mag. 



Decl. 



95 Virginis 



94 Virginis 



Mars . . , 



R A. 



h. m. s. 



14 o 48 ... 8 46 47 S. 



14 O 22 ... 8 21 27 S. 

 13 56 16 ... 9 2 20 S. 



Unfortunately, however, the parallax is small — only ii""3, and 

 only part of this is practically available for the diurnal method, 

 as the planet cannot be observed through a longer period than 

 eight hours at the utmost. 



The Longitude of Odessa. —The Astronoviische Nachrich- 

 ten, No. 2820, gives the result of the determination, by Dr. E. 

 Becker and Prof Block, of the difference of longitude between 

 Berlin rnd Odessa, which was carried out in July and August 

 1876 by the telegraphic m-thod. The deduced distance in 

 longitude of the centre of the axis of the Repsold meridian- 

 circle of the Odessa Observatory to the east of the centre of ihe 

 great domcof the Berlin Observatory is given as ih. 9m. 27"29s. 



The Winki.er Observatory. — Ilerr Winkler notifies, in 

 No. 2821 of the Astrononiische Nachrichten, the transference 

 of his private observatory from Gohlis, near Leipzig (N. lat, 

 51° 21' 35"'i ; long. E. from (Greenwich, oh. 49m. 29-653.), to 

 the neighbourhood of Jena. The growth of the city of Leipzig 

 rendered the old site no longer a favourable one for observation. 

 The transit-instrument and small 4-inch refractor are already 

 temporarily mounted. The co-ordinates of the new observatory 

 are taken at present as being N. lat. 50° 55' 35" -6 ; long. E. 

 from Greenwich, oh. 46m. 2o-8s. Herr Winkler publishes at 

 the same time some observations of occultations and eclipses of 

 Jupiter's satellites made in the first half of 1887, which were the 

 last observations made at Gohlis. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1888 JANUARY 29— FEBRUARY 4. 



/pOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 ^_ Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 



is here employed. ) 



At Greenwich on January 29 



Sun rises, 7h. 45m. ; souths, I2h. 13m, ig'gs. ; sets, l6h. 41m. : 

 right asc. on meridian, 2oh. 46 'im. ; decl. 18° o' S. 

 Sidereal Time at Sunset, ih. 14m. 

 Moon (at Last Quarter on February 4, igh.) rises, i6h. 2om.*; 

 souths, oh. 15m.; sets, 8h. im. : right afc. on meridian, 

 8h. 46 -om. ; decl. 17° 56' N. 



Right asc. and declination 

 on meridian. 



Planet. 



Rise? 



Souths. 



Sets. 



* Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening and the setting 

 that of the following morning. 



Occultations 0/ Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich). 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



General Prjevalsky has begun to print his narrative of his 

 fourth journey in Central Asia. It is expected to appear in May, 

 and we may hope that it will find an English translator. 



We are glad to learn that the French explorer of the Gran 

 Chaco, M. Thouars, is safe. The Bolivian Government succeeded 

 in rescuing him from a perilous position among hostile Indians. 



A Scotch merchant captain, Mr. Strachan, has just returned 

 from New Guinea, many hitherto unexplored parts of which he 

 seems to have visited. It is expected that he will be able to give 

 information that will seriously modify the cartography of the Fly 

 River region. He maintains that the forests in New Guinea are 

 confined to a fringe along the banks of the rivers, and that the 

 bulk of the interior is covered with grass. Captain Strachan has 

 brought home with him a young Papuan boy. 



The steamer Essex, of the United States Navy, has been 

 making a series of soundings between Cape Guardafui and 

 Ceylon. In the Indian Ocean, between 60° and 70° E. long., a 

 uniform depth of about 2000 fathoms is almost constantly met 

 with, gradually decreasing as the coast is approached. The 

 greatest depth met with was 2705 fathoms, off the coast of 

 Africa, 160 miles from Cape Guardafui. To the east of this 



