144 



NA TURE 



[February i i, 1892 



Society), Dr. Franklin Parsons, Mr. Daydon Jackson (Secretary 

 of the Linnean Society), Mr. J. E. Harting, Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, 

 Mr. J. Britten, Mr. E. Saunders, Colonel Swinhoe, Mr. A. W. 

 Bennett (Vice-President of the Linnean Society), Mr. Percy 

 Sladen (Secretary of the Linnean Society), Mr. D. Morris, Mr. 

 Miller-Christy, and by a large number of other Fellows of the 

 Linnean, Geological, Zoological, and Entomological Societies of 

 London ; and by the editors of the Geological Magazine^ the 

 /ournal of Botany, the Zoologist, the Entomologists' Monthly 

 Magazine, and the Entomologist. Herbert Goss. 



Linnean Society, Burlington House, W., February 6. 



ON THE NEW STAR IN AURIGA. 

 ■\ XfE were enabled last week to make an announcement 

 * * of the discovery of a new star in the constellation 

 Auriga, as we received on Wednesday the Edinburgh 

 Circular giving an account of the manner in which the 

 first information had been received. A telegram was 

 sent by Dr. Copeland to the Astronomer- Royal on the 

 date of the reception of the post card — Monday, Feb- 

 ruary I — and, as we have since learnt from the Astrono- 

 mische Nachriditen, a telegram was also sent by 

 Dr. Copeland and the Astronomer- Royal to Kiel. Un- 

 fortunately there is at present in England no local 

 system for the distribution of astronomical intelligence 

 of this character, so that it will probably be found 

 that the fine night of Monday was only devoted to obser- 

 vations of the new star in a very restricted number of 

 Observatories. The necessity for correcting this state of 

 things has been pointed out by Mr. Lockyer in the Times 

 of Friday, and it is to be hoped that some steps may be 

 taken to rectify the defect. As it turns out, however, no 

 very great harm has been done, for the new star, instead 

 of degrading its light rapidly from the day of its discovery 

 on February i, seems if anything to have brightened, so 

 that the changes in its light between Monday and Wed- 

 nesday were probably not so great as those observed in 

 Nova Cygni during the first two or three days of its 

 visibility. 



A telegram from Prof. Pickering communicated by the 

 Astronomer-Royal to the Times of Monday seems to 

 show that the star, instead of bursting forth suddenly 

 about the date when the anonymous post-card was sent 

 to Dr. Copeland, has really been visible since last Dec- 

 ember, perhaps even for a longer time ; but in any case 

 it has not been registered in any recognized Catalogue. 

 Prof. Pickering states that he finds this star visible on 

 three plates belonging to the series of the Draper photo- 

 graphs at different dates during the month of December. 

 The telegram through the " Centralstelle flir Astrono- 

 mische Telegramme," Kiel, runs as follows : — " Cope- 

 land's Nova bright on photograph December lo, faint 

 December i ; ntaxiiniim December 20 ; spectrum unique. 

 —Pickering." It would thus appear that Prof. Picker- 

 ing had photographed the new star on the three dates 

 named in the course of the photographic mapping of stars 

 and their spectra which he is carrying out at Harvard 

 College Observatory. We do not yet know whether the 

 plates were examined at the date on which they were 

 taken, or whether the telegrams relating to the appear- 

 ance of the Nova may have caused an examination to be 

 made, but the spectrum was visible on all three plates. 



As we stated last week, the observations in England 

 •commenced on Monday night at Edinburgh, on which 

 •date Dr. Copeland saw bright lines, and at the Royal 

 Observatory on the same evening, when the new photo- 

 graphic 13-inch refractor was used for determining the 

 exact position of the star. With this fii:e instrument the 

 Astronomer- Royal was able to detect that the star differed 

 from the other stars on the plate in appearance. 



As to the work on Tuesday night, at present we know 

 nothing. An announcement of the discovery appeared 

 in the Times of Wednesday, on which date also, as we 

 have already stated, Dr. Copeland's Edinburgh Circular 



NO. I 163. VOL. 45] 



was received in London. On that night, therefore, which 

 happened to be fine, observations were commenced at 

 South Kensington, and two photographs were obtained, 

 together with some eye-observations, which were com- 

 municated to the Rojal Society by Mr. Norman Lockyer 

 on the next day in a preliminary note, from which we 

 make the following extracts : — 



" Last night was fortunately fine, and two photographs 

 were taken of the spectrum — the first exposed from 

 7.30 to 9, or for ih. 30m. ; the second exposed from 

 9.30 to 12.30, or for 3h. om. The first registered 13 lines ; 

 the second appears to contain some additional ones, 

 but they are very faint, and have not yet been measured. 



" A complete discussion of these photographs will form 

 the substance of a subsequent communication, but already 

 the following approximations to the wave-lengths have 

 been obtained, the photographs being treated absolutely 

 independently, means, however, being taken for the four 

 least refrangible lines, as there has not yet been time to 

 construct a proper curve for this region : — 



" I have recently taken up the question of stellar spectra, 

 and find that a 6-inch object-glass with a prism in front 

 of it is all that is required for the brighter stars. This 

 instrument was employed upon the Nova, which is of 

 about the fifth magnitude, so the exposures were neces- 

 sarily long. 



" For the eye-observations, the new 3-foot mirror which 

 has recently been presented to the Astro-Physical Labora- 

 tory by Mr. Common was employed, but unfortunately 

 the clock is not yet mounted, so that the observations 

 were very difficult. 



" C was the brightest line observed. In the green there 

 were several lines, the brightest of which was in all 

 probability F, the position being estimated by com- 

 parison with the flame of a wax taper. Another line was 

 coincident— with the dispersion employed— with the radia- 

 tion at wave-length 500 from burning magnesium wire. A 

 fainter line between the two last-named was probably 

 near X 495, thus completing the trio of lines which is 

 characteristic of the spectra of nebulte. There was also 

 a fairly bright line or band coincident with the edge of 

 the carbon fluting at X 517 given by the flame of the 

 taper. A feeble line in the yellow was coincident under 

 the conditions employed with the sodium line at D. 



" The hydrogen hne at G was distinctly seen, as well as 

 a band, or group of lines, between G and F. 



" Nearly all the lines appear to be approximately, if not 

 actually, coincident with lines seen in the various types 

 of Cygnus stars, the chief difference being the apparent 

 existence of carbon, hydrocarbon, and calcium in the 

 N ova. 



