446 



NATURE 



\March 8, 1888 



for the periods 1867-73 and 1879-85, and he wished to connect 

 his calculation with those for the two other periods, which it is 

 his intention to compute, and which he hopes to carry forward 

 so as to furnish positions for the comet for its next return in 1892. 

 The following are the final results obtained by M. Gautier for 

 the two appearances : — 



Second appearance, Third appearance, Mean errors com- 



1873. 1879. mon to both 



Mean eijuinox T873t>. Mean equinox i87g'o. systems. 



Mo 1873 April 15-0 - \ M 1879 April-24-o = >) _^ " 



-4° 5' 24"-i77 J -2° 10' 2"-454 \ ^ ^^ 



IX = 592";9765465 = 593"'i200i65 ± o'oooi40 



^ = 27° 33' 22" 79 = 27° 33' 6" -69 ± 524 



w' = 240 2 5271 



Si' = 21 29 o"3o 



i' = 27 o 58"62 



V = 238 2 52-98 



&> - 78 43 48-42 



' = 9 45 58'59 



== 240 15 31-77 



= 21 29 34-33 



= 27 o 39-50 



= 238 15 30-65 



r= 78 45 55-66 



= 9 46 2 64 



± I 3175 



± 6-14 



± 2*00 



± I 31-75 



± 13-18 



± 2-6i 



T i= '1-873 May 9-83096 =: 1879 Mdy 7'r5493 ± of'-0495 



loga= 0-5179794 = 0-5179093 



log g — 0-2482605 = 0-2482463 



e = 0-4626205 = 0-4625512 



The time of perihelion passage is given in Berlin mean time. 



The comet was not seen in 1885, and there seems distinct 

 evidence, from tlie greater difficulty of observation in 1873 and 

 more especially in 1879, that it has diminished in brightness at 

 each succeeding return. 



Comet 1888 a (Savverthai.).^ — The following elements have 

 been computed for this comet by Wr. \V. II. Finlay, Royal 

 Observatory, Cape of Good Hope : — 



T = 1888 March 17-18 G.M.T. 



TT - ffl = 4 29 



SI = 244 6 



' = 43 57 



log |7 = 9 '8354 



Error of middle observation 

 AA. cos /8 = - -5" 



Mean equinox l888-o. 



A;8 ==: - 2" 



X = [9-8927] r sin (330 30 + v) 



y — [0-0000] r sin (240 T + v) 



z = [9"7954] ^- sin (329 30 + v). 



The following ephemeris for Greenwich midnight has been 



computed by Dr. L. Becker, the perihelion passage having been 



increased by one day, as suggested by Prof. Krueger : 



March 5 ... 20 33-9 ... 33 9 S. 

 20 29 S. 

 8 31 S. 

 I 58 N. 

 April 6 ... 22 23-5 ... 1043N. 

 The brightness on February 18 has been taken as unity. 



The ToTAi. Eclipse of the Moon, January 28. — The 

 following list has been received from the Pnlkowa Observatory 

 of the number of occultations observed at those observatories 

 from which reports had been received up to February 17, in 

 addition to those given in Nature for February 2 (p. 333) : 



Pulkowa 



Tashkent 



Turin 



Belgrade ... 

 Bothkamp 



Geneva 



Neuchitel 



Kis Kartal 



Paris 



St. Petersburg 



At Helsingfors and Algiers they had also been successful. 



The weather was cloudy at the following stations : Besaii9on, 

 Breslau, Charkow, Dorpat, Dresden, Gjtha, Gottingen, Ham- 

 ^"'-g) Jena, Kalocsa, Kasan, Kremzmunster, Leipzig, Munich, 

 Nikolajen, Pola, Prague, Kiga, and Upsala. Seventy-five 

 observatories had not reported at the above-mentioned date. 



Variations of Lunar Heat during the Eclipse of 

 THE Moon. — Dr. Boedicker succeeded in making a series of 

 interesting experiments under favourable circumstances of the 

 variations in the amount of heat radiated to us from the moon 

 during the progress of the total eclipse of January 28. The 

 observations were made with a Thompson's galvanometer used in 

 connection with Lord Rosse's 3-foot reflector at Parsonstown, 

 and commenced at 7h. 19m., or ih. lom. before the first contact 

 with the earth's penumbra, and continued until I5h. 45m., or 

 ih. 34m. after the last contact. 638 readings were made in all. 

 The principal deductions drawn from the observations were :— 



(i) The heat radiated by the moon commenced to decrease 

 long before the first contact with the penumbra. 



(2) Twenty-two minutes before the commencement of totality 

 the heat was reduced to less than 5 per cent, of that which it 

 had been twenty minutes before the first contact with the 

 penumbra, 



(3) In spite of this rapid cooling at the approach of totality, 

 the heat after the last contact with the penumbra did not 

 remount immediately to the point where it had been before the 

 first contact. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 



WEEK 1888 MARCH 11-17. 

 /tj'GR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 V -^ Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 

 is here employed. ) 



At Greetiwich on March 11 

 Sun rises, 6h. 24m. ; souths, I2h. lom. 1-3S. ; sets, I7h. 57m, : 

 right asc. on meridian, 23h. 28-4m. ; decl. 3° 25' S. 

 Sidereal Time at Sunset, 5h. i6m. 

 Moon (New on March 12, i6h.) rises, 6h. i6m. ; souths, 

 iih. 23m.; sets, i6h. 39m.: right asc. on meridian, 

 22h. 41 -3m. ; decl. 10° 59' S. 



Right asc. and dectination 

 Planet. Rises. Souths. Sets. on meridian. 



h, m. h. in. h. m. h. m. „ , 



Mercury.. 5 43 ... n 13 •. 16 43 ... 22 30-9 .. 6 42 S. 

 Venus ... 5 29 ... 10 12 ... 14 55 ... 21 30-1 ... 15 24 S. 

 Mars ... 21 20*... 2 38 ... 7 56 ... 13 55-2 ... 8 56 S. 

 Jupiter ... o 48 ... 5 i ... 9 14 ... 16 17-9 ... 20 24 S, 

 Saturn ... 12 51 ... 20 49 ... 4 47*... 8 8-9 ... 20 44 N. 

 Uranus... 20 10*... i 44 ... 7 18 ... 13 0-9 ... 5 45 S. 

 Neptune.. 8 44 ... 16 24 ... o 4*... 3 42-9 ... 18 i N. 

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

 that of the following morning. 



March. h. o 01 i. 



II ... 6 ... Mercury in conjunction with and 5 8 north 



of the Moon. 

 16 ... 4 ... Mercury stationary. 



Variable Stars. 



Star. RA. Decl. 



h. m. . , h. m. 



R Celi 2 20-3 ... o 41 S. ... Mar. 13, M 



\Tauri 3 54-5 ... 12 10 N. ... ,, 14, 22 5 m 



^Geminorum ... 6 57-5 ... 20 44 N. ... ,, 15, 2 oM 



R Canis Majoris... 7 14-5... 16 12 S. ... ,, n, 041 m 



,, 17, 20 17 w 



U Monocerotis ... 725-5... 9 33 S. ... ,, 16, M 



SLibrse 1455-0... 8 4 S. ... ,, 14, o 40 w 



U Coronse 15 13-6 ... 32 3 N. ... ,, 17, i 50 w 



S LibrEE 15 15-0 ... 19 59 S. ... ,, 13, ^^ 



R Herculis 16 1-2 ... 18 40 N. ... ,, 14, M 



RUrsee Minoris... 16 31-5 ... 72 30 N. ... ,, 12, M 



U Ophiuchi 17 10-9... i 20 N. ... ,, 16, 3 ow 



X Sagittarii 17 4^-5 •• 27 47 S. ... „ n, 3 o .1/ 



U Sagittarii 18 25-3 ... 19 12 S. ... ,, 14, 3 o ^" 



,, 17, 2 o M 



,8 Lyrse 18 460 ... 33 14 N. ... ,, n, 4 <^ ^"-i 



R Sagittas 20 9-0 ... 16 23 N. ... „ 14, m 



T Vulpecul^ ... 20 46-7 ... 27 50N. ... „ i3> 2 oM 



,, 14, 4 o m 



5 Cephei 22 25-0 ... 57 51 N. ... ,, 17,22 oM 



AT signifies maximum ; m minimum ; vi^ secondary minimum. 

 Meteor-Showers. 

 R.A. Decl. 



March 4-12. 

 Bright ; slow. 

 Bright ; slow. 



