s 



possible, and after conference with astronomers the following form has 

 been agreed upon : 



After the single word "PLANET" (or " COMET") is given, 



(1st) its Right Ascension hi time, hours and minutes only; next, 



separated by the word 

 (2d) north or south, is given its 

 (3d) Declination to the nearest minute. 



In the case of a planet, in addition to the foregoing follows finally 

 the magnitude expressed by the nearest ordinal number. In the case of 

 a comet follows the word bright or faint, and it is well to add the 

 direction of motion, requiring at the utmost two words combined, of 

 S. W. N. E. ; and also, if rapid, the quantity of its daily motion, the latter 

 to the nearest whole number in degrees. For example, the following 

 dispatch, "Planet, twenty-three, thirty-five north twenty-one forty-six 

 eleventh" would be interpreted : A new planet is discovered in 23 h 35 m of 

 right ascension and + 21 46' of decimation ; llth magnitude. 



Or a dispatch like the following : " Comet twenty-two forty-three north 

 sixty-five thirty-one bright southeast three" would announce the discovery 

 of a bright comet hi right ascension = 22 h 43 m ; declination + 65 31' ; 

 the declination decreasing, right ascension increasing, daily motion about 

 three degrees. 



The preceding examples contain the greatest number of words required 

 for any one dispatch, if composed according to the rule adopted. Usually 

 they will not exceed ten. Sometimes, however, the dispatch thus com- 

 posed would become equivocal, and it has therefore been established as 

 an additional rule that the number expressing the minutes of right ascen* 

 sion or declination shall always be expressed hi words, even when zero 

 occurs. Therefore, 23^ 0^ should be written "twenty-three nought," 

 while "twenty three" will be understood to mean 20 h 3 m . In a similar 

 way O b of Right Ascension or of declination are to be distinctly ex- 

 pressed by the word "nought" 



The right ascension and decimation in the dispatch will be understood 

 to give the position (by proper motion approximately reduced) for the 

 midnight following the date of the dispatch: Washington time for 

 American discoveries, Greenwich time for European. 



V. 



Since, in conformity with the preceding article, only an approximate 

 estimate of a later position, and not that of the first observation itself, 

 is given, the dispatch is not to be considered as a document for deciding 

 the question of priority of discovery. 



