March 7. 1889] 



NATURE 



449 



May 24 to June 8, June 30 to July 12, July 18 to August 7, and 

 December 22-31. And not only were there these long and 

 numerous breaks in the spot manifestations, but when spots were 

 seen they were almost always small in size and few in number. 

 On not a single day in the year did the total spotted area amount 

 to ifinr of the surface of the visible hemisphere ; on only eight 

 days did it exceed ^TtVo- The mean daily spotted area for the 

 year amounted only to about 9 parts in loo,cxx), or almost pre- 

 cisely the same as in 1877. In January there was a feeble but 

 fairly sustained display of activity up to the 22nd ; there was 

 a similar but less lasting manifestation at the end of February, 

 and again about the middle of March. April was very quiet, 

 l)ut May 11-23 yielded a fair show of spots. May 14 giving the 

 largest area of the year. August 28 to September 9 was also a 

 fairly active time ; but the most prolific month as to entire 

 spotted area, though not as to number of spots, was November, 

 following immediately after the longest period of entire quies- 

 cence. The last ten days of last year, and the first two months 

 of the present, have been exceedingly barren. 



A rough tendency has manifested itself in the past as in pre- 

 vious years, for quiet intervals to follow each other at the distance 

 of half a synodic rotation of the sun, indicating a preference of 

 the spots for a few favoured longitudes. In latitude, the spots 

 have continued to be more numerous in the southern hemisphere 

 — a condition of things that has prevailed, on the whole, ever 

 since the dying away of the great spot of November 1882. 

 Generally speaking, the spots have lain close to the equator, 

 not often rising above 5° or 6° of latitude in the northern hemi- 

 sphere, and (f or 10'^ in the southern ; but the same curious pulsa- 

 tion shown in the great eleven-year cycle has been also visible 

 in these minor oscillations, and whenever there has been any- 

 thing like an outburst, there has also been an effort to ascend 

 to higher latitudes. Thus, the greatest display in the northern 

 hemisphere, that of November, lay in lat. + 11° ; whilst a part 

 of the outbreak in the southern hemisphere in September reached 

 lat. -16°. 



The monthly numbers for spots and faculse given by Prof. 

 Tacchini, in the Comptes rendtis, vol. cvi. No. 18, vol. cvii. 

 No. 6, and vol. cviii. No. 7, are as follows, and may be com- 

 pared with those given for previous years in Nature, vol. 

 xxxiii. p. 398, vol. XXXV. p. 445, and vol. xxxvii. p. 423 : — 



The foregoing table shows that the faculae have not by any 

 means varied simultaneously with the spots, and that their 

 diminution as compared with 1 886 and 1887 has been but slight. 

 They showed, however, a very noticeable development during 

 the secondary maximum of September, whilst the prominences, 

 on the other hand, fell off considerably both in September and 

 November, but attained their greatest development during the 

 year about March and April, when the spot activity was 

 decidedly feeble. This diversity of behaviour shows that the 

 connection between the spots and hydrogen prominences is less 

 intimate than it has sometimes been stated to be. Nevertheless, 

 the prominences also afford very distinct evidence of a continued 

 decline, as the following figures, given by the Rev. S. J. Perry 

 in the Observatory for March, will show :— 



Mean height of Mean height of Mean extent of 



chromosphere. prominences. prominence arc. 



1886 ... 8-05 ... 2478 ... 13 36 



1887 ... 8-13 ... 23-86 ... 9 29 



1888 ... 806 ... 20-96 ... 6 46 

 The highest individual prominences recorded by Prof. Tacchini 

 were 2' in height, and were seen on January 10 and February 7. 



The magnetic variation has also shown a decline during the 



year in fairly faithful parallelism to the sun-spots ; indeed, the 

 accordance has, according to Dr. R. Wolf, been closer in 1888 

 than in 1887. The following are the numbers he gives in the 

 Comptes retidits, vol. cviii. No. 2 : — 



Mean ... 67 ... — 6*4 



The formula v = $''62 + o-045> 



6-21 ... — 0*40' 



which Dr. Wolf has 

 established for Milan, would give v = 5' -92 if r = 6*7, whilst 

 the observed value of v was 6'-2l, a difference of o'-29. The 

 difference between the observed and computed values was o'-40 

 for 1887. 



Comet 1889 a. — This object, discovered by Mr. Brooks on 

 January 14, appears to be lo>t. Prof. Holden, writing on 

 January 30 to the editor of the Astronomische Nachrichten, states 

 that both Mr. Barnard and Prof. Swift had carefully searched fof 

 it with the Lick instruments, but without success. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 



WEEK 1889 MARCH 10-16. 



/■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 March 10 

 Sun rises, 6h. 26m. ; souths, I2h. lom. 21 -6 j. ; sets, I7h. 54m. r 

 right asc. on meridian, 23h. 23-801. ; decl. 3° 54' S. 

 Sidereal Time at Sunset. 5H. 8 m. 

 Moon (at First Quarter on March 9. i8h.) rises, loh. 4imr ;. 

 souths, i8h. 53m.; sets, 3h. 9m.*: right asc. on meridian^ 

 6h. 7-2m. ; decl. 21° 54' N. 



Right asc and declination 

 Rises. Souths. Sets. on meridian, 



h. m. h. m. h. m. 



5 39 ... 10 28 ... IS 17 

 7 18 ... 14 52 .. 22 26 



Planet. 



Mercury 

 Venus . 

 Mars . 

 Jupiter . 

 Saturn ., 

 Uranus. 

 Neptune.. 



7 12 .. 

 3 14 .. 



14 16 .. 



20 43*.. 



8 55 .. 



Souths, 

 h. m. 

 ID 28 

 14 52 

 13 46 



7 10 

 21 54 



2 8 

 16 38 



h. m. 

 21 40-7 



2 5-6 



o 59-9 



18 22-5 



9 92 

 13 >9*3 



3 51-8 



14 15 S. 



16 54 N. 



6 4N. 

 23 2S. 



17 38 N. 



7 40 S. 



18 30 N. 



20 20 . 

 II 6 . 



5 32*. 



7 33 • 



O 21*. 



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

 that of the following morning. 

 Mar. h. 



13 ... II ... Mercury at greatest elongation from the Sun,^ 



28° west. 



14 ... 6 ... Saturn in conjunction with and 1° o' south 



of the Moon. 



Variable Stars. 



W Tauri 



R Canis Majoris , 



S Geminorum 



S Cancri ... . 



T Cancri ... . 



R Ursae Majoris . 



R Crateris ... . 



U Coronse ... . 



S Serpentis ... . 

 T Vulpeculae 



Y Cygni 

 5 Cephei 



R.A. 

 h. m. 

 4 217 .. 

 7 14'S •■ 



7 36-4 .. 



8 37-6 .. 

 8 50-3 ■• 



10 36-8 .. 

 10 55-1 .. 



IS 137 •• 



15 16-S .. 

 20 46-8 .. 



20 47-6 .. 



22 25*0 



' signifies maximum 



Decl. 



