February 7, 1901] 



NATURE 



355 



The present article considers all records prior to 1890, and 

 the result indicates that the line of apsides is revolving from 

 east to west, or in a direction contrary to that of the pole in its 

 orbit, in a long period of some 75 years— ?.tf. at a rate of about 5° 

 annually ; also that the length of the annual period oscillates 

 about its mean value, the fluctuations having a long periodical 

 character, with a cycle of about 60 years. 



Definitive Elements of the Orbit of Comet 189S 

 VII. — Nos.*3684, 3685 of the Astronomische Nachrichten are 

 devoted to an exhaustive discussion, by Mr. C. J. Merfield, of 

 Sydney, of the data recorded for the comet discovered by Mr. 

 Coddington at the Lick Observatory on June II, 1898. Some 

 400 observations are utilised, the largest series being those made 

 by Mr. Tebbutt at Windsor, New South Wales. 



Epoch of Osculation 1%<)'S> June 21. 



T = 1898 Sept. 14-0442056 G.M.T. 



Q, = 



t — 



log<7 = 



log^ = 



233 15 1866 ) 

 74 o 5817^1 

 69 56 0-37 J 

 0-2308587. 

 o "0004487 



900-0 



e = I -0010336. 



Observations of Eros. — Several observers are now com- 

 mencing to publish their lists of measures of the planet Eros, 

 made during the recent opposition. In the Astroncmische 

 Nachrichten (Bd. 154, No. 3683), Prof. A. Abetti gives a long 

 list of measures taken during July, August, September, October 

 and December 1900 at Arcetri-Firenze. 



M. J. Pidoux also contributes a series obtained during October 

 and November 1900 at Geneva, and Signor A. Antoniazzi 

 others during July and August 1900 at Padova. 



Photographic Catalogue of Polar Stars.— The first 

 issue of the Publications of the Vassar College Observatory, 

 U.S.A., contains a catalogue of sixty-five stars within one degree 

 of the North Pole, reduced by Miss C. E. Furness from photo- 

 graphs obtained with the 13-inch Helsingfors astrographic 

 refractor. A discussion of the results in a manner suggested by 

 Prof. Jacoby, of Columbia University, led the conclusion that, 

 within the limits of the plates — 2° square — no optical distortion 

 was to be detected. 



AUDIBILITY OF THE SOUND OF FIRING 

 ON FEBRUARY i. 



/^N Friday last, between three and four in the afternoon, the 

 ^^ body of our lamented Queen was conveyed from Cowes to 

 Portsmouth past a fleet consisting of some of the finest battle- 

 ships of the world. The minute-guns fired from these vessels 

 during the passage of the funeral procession were clearly heard at 

 great distances from Spithead ; for, from the regularity of the 

 discharges, there can be little doubt as to the origin of the 

 reports. 



We have received several letters referring to the sounds heard 

 at various places. Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., writes as 

 follows from Youlbury, Boar's Hill, near Oxford : — 



" During the interval {between three and four o'clock on the 

 afternoon of Friday, February i, many people on this hill, 

 about 520 feet above sea-level, including Mr. Arthur J. Evans 

 and I, heard the sound of distant guns. The period over which 

 the sounds were heard, the direction from which they appeared 

 to come, the mode of their occurrence in groups separated by 

 intervals of silence, led us to believe that they were the guns 

 of the fleet ranged between Cowes and Portsmouth, and that 

 each group of sounds represented the salute of a single ship as it 

 was passed by the Royal Yacht. Judging from an old atlas the 

 distance appears to be about sixty-seven miles in a straight line. 

 The afternoon was bright and sunny and the air very still. The 

 sounds could be distinctly heard in the house with closed 

 windows. Out of doors they were really impressive. It is 

 probable that other records will reach you, indicating that they 

 were noticed at much greater distances." 



Prof. F. J. Allen and Mr. C. Thwaites heard the reports 

 very distinctly at Sutton, Surrey, which is about sixty miles from 

 Portsmouth, and the latter states that the windows of a house 

 were slightly shaken with each discharge. 



NO. 1632, VOL. 63] 



Several letters from correspondents who heard the sounds 

 have appeared in the Times, the Standard a.nA. the Daily News. 

 Towards the east, the booming of the guns was distinctly heard 

 at Beachy Head (60 miles from Spithead), near Brightling 

 (69 miles) and Woodchurch (84 miles) ; towards the east-north- 

 east, near Tunbridge Wells (66 miles) ; towards the north-east, 

 at Wallington (59 miles), Croydon and Richmond Hill (62 miles), 

 and Bexley (75 miles) ; towards the north-north-east, near 

 King's Langley (74 miles) ; and towards the north, at Marcham 

 (near Abingdon, 64 miles), Great Missenden (69 miles), Oxford 

 (70 miles), Witney (73 miles), and Leighton Buzzard (84 miles). 

 The concussion was sometimes strong enough to shake windows 

 at Wallington, Richmond Hill and Great Missenden. Near 

 Brightling, cock-pheasants crowed as they do during a thunder- 

 storm. As a rule, there appears to have been little or no 

 wind to interfere with the propagation of the sound-waves. 



JUPITER AND HIS MARKINGS. 



T UPITER is now visible as a morning star, and observers have 

 •^ resumed their investigations of his surface markings. The 

 coming opposition on June 30 will not be a favourable one for 

 telescopists in Europe, as the planet will be in about 23 degrees 

 of south declination, and therefore at a very low altitude. 



The lingering relics of the great red spot, situated within the 

 hollow in the south side of the southern equatorial belt, will 

 probably be. a difficult feature in the circumstances. But it 

 should be carefully looked for, and its times of transit across the 

 central meridian of the planet noted as frequently as possible. 

 These will occur during February, about 80 minutes after 

 the times given for the zero meridian (System II.) by Mr. 

 Crommelin in his ephemerides published in the Monthly Notices 

 for December 1900. Whenever the red spot itself cannot be 

 distinguished, it will be advisable to take the time of transit of 

 the hollow in the belt, which is a very easy object. In recent 

 years the rotation of the spot and hollow has exhibited a slow 

 decrease of speed, amounting to about one-tenth of a second 

 annually. In 1896 the period was 9h. 55m. 41 -3s., in 1900 

 9h. 55m. 41 -8s. On February 15, 1901, the longitude of the 

 spot will be about 48°, if the retardation has continued. Its 

 easterly drift will bring it into longitude 5i°-5 on June 15, 1901, 

 and 6i°-5 on June 15, 1902. 



With regard to the equatorial spots, these have shown a mean 

 motion of about 9h. 50m. 24-is. during the past three years, 

 and this is about six seconds shorter than the period adopted for 

 System I. in the ephemerides above referred to. 



The study of Jupiter during the present year may have a 

 special significance, for it is likely to throw an important light 

 upon the question whether or not certain features on the disc 

 are recurrent at pretty regular intervals. There is a belt in 

 about 23° north latitude which displayed some remarkable out- 

 breaks of spots in 1869, 1880 and 1890, and a similar 

 phenomenon is now again due if such outbreaks are periodical 

 and owe their origin to some disturbing action repeated on the 

 planet at intervals of about a decade. The features alluded to 

 move more rapidly than any other markings observed on the 

 disc. The same, north temperate, belt is often marked with 

 small dark spots or condensations, but these travel with normal 

 velocity and differ little from the rate of the red spot. There 

 is another current in this region conforming with a period of 

 9h. 56m., which is probably slower than any other lovian 

 current. In the southern hemisphere, south of the red spot, 

 there are two well- pronounced streams translating their various 

 markings along at rates of 9h. 55m. 19s. and 9h. 55m. 7s. for a 

 complete circuit. 



Among other details offered by the planet may be mentioned 

 the colours of the belts and their relative intensity and dis- 

 tribution over the disc. The value of continuous observation of 

 the forms and motions of the markings in various latitudes is 

 very great. It is only by collecting a mass of results during 

 many consecutive years that proper investigation can be made 

 and the various changes in progress assigned their proper 

 periods. Until quite recently observations were somewhat 

 irregular and altogether insufficient for a complete di.scussion of 

 the phenomena. During the coming opposition observers in 

 the southern hemisphere will have the planet well placed, and 

 ought to be able to supply any deficiencies in the results 

 obtained at northern observatories. W. F. Denning. 



