September, 1903.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



215 



Oceultations : — ii. jr. 



3 Sept. B.A.C. 70(J3 (Mag. Cy2) at 7 4 p.m. 

 n „ D.M. + 12° 436 (Mag. 5-9) at 11 53 p.m. 

 13 „ B.A.C. 1520 (Mag. .5-8) at 11 56 p.m. 



The Planets. — Mercury is an evening star in. Virgo. 

 On the 7th he is at greatest easterly elongation of 27° E., 

 on which date he sets about 7 p.m. He is, liowever, not 

 well placed for observing, but on the day of greatest 

 elongation he has practically the same R.A. as y Virginis, 

 and is 6° ti:) the south ; this may be of some assistance in 

 locating him. 



Venus is luiobservable, being in inferior conjunction 

 with the sun on the 17th. 



Mars is still visible in the south-west for a short time 

 after sunset, but on account of his small altitude and his 

 feeble luminosity, due to his increased distance from the 

 earth, he is unsuitable for observation. 



Jupiter is now becoming a brilliant object in the evening 

 sky looking towards the S.E. He is in opposition to the 

 snn on the 12th. when ho attains his greatest apparent 

 diameter, being then nearest the earth ; on this date the 

 polar and equatorial diameters are respectively 47"1 and 

 50"-4. 



The most interesting satellite phenomena visible before 

 midnight are as follow : — 



Ec. = Eclipse. Tr. = Transit. Oc. = Occultation. Sh. = Shadow. 

 E. - Egress. I. -= Ingress. T>. = Disappears. R. = Reappears. 



Saturn is rather low down in the sky, but otherwise is 

 very favourably situated for easy observation in the 

 evening; he is on the meridian at 9.45 p.m. on the 1st, and 

 at 7.45 P.M. on the 30th, having an altitude of about 20". 

 The apparent polar diameter of the ball is 16"'(;, whilst 

 the outer major and minor axes of the ring have diameters 

 of 41"'8 and 14"-4 respectively. 



The ring is beautifully open, the ring plane being 

 inclined at au angle of 20° to our lino of vision, and we 

 are looking on the northern surface. 



Uranus is too low iu the south-west to be easily 

 observable. 



Neptune is not in convenient position for observing 

 until near midnight. 



The Stars. — At the beginning of the month, at !• p.m., 

 the following constellations are to be observed : — ■ 

 Zenith . Lyra, Cygnus. 



SOTJTH 



Aquila, Delphinus, Aquarius, Capricomus, 



Sagittarius ; Serpens, Ophiuchus, and 



Scorpio, to tlie S.W. 

 Andromeda, Pegasus, Pisces, and Aries ; 



Pleiades on horizon. 

 Hercules, Corona, Bootes. 

 Ursa Major, Ursa Minor; N.E , Cassiopeia 



and Perseus; Auriga (Oapella) on horizon. 

 Minima of Algol occur on the 3rd at 0.37 a.m., 5th at 

 9.2(3 p.m., 25th at 11 9 p.m., 28th at 7.58 p.m. 



East 



West 

 North 



(!Ei)css Column. 



By C. D. LococK, b.a. 



Communications for this column should be addressed 

 to C. D. LococK, Netherfield, Camberley, and be posted 

 by the 10th of each month. 



Solutions of August Problems. 

 No. 1 (W. Geary). 

 1. Q to Ktsq., and mates next move. 

 No. 2 (A. LiUie). 

 [The author's key is 1. Q to E8, but there are several 

 other solutions, e.g., 1. Q to B4ch, 1. K to Kt7, 1. E to B7.] 

 SoLrTioNs received from " Alpha," 2, 6 ; W. Nash, 

 2, 6; G. A. Forde (Major), 2, 4; " Looker-ou," 2, 6; 

 W. H. S. M., 2, 6; G. W. Middleton, 2, G; " Quidam," 

 2, 6 ; C. Johnston, 2, 6 ; H. F. Culmer, 2, 4 ; T. Dale, 

 2,6; E. A. Servante, 2, 4 ; J. W. Dixon, 2, 6; A. C. 

 Challenger (too late to count points). 



" Quidam " has written to say that he sent in solutions 

 of the May problems under his real name instead of his 

 usual pseudonym. Hence the fact that he was not credited 

 with points for them. The solutions were perfectly correct, 

 and 6 points must accordingly be added to"Quidam's" 

 score as published in the July number. 



C. V. IIo%vard. — Correct, but nearly a fortnight too late. 



W. H. S. M. — Tour postcard of June 27th postmark 

 for some reason took three weeks to reach me, arriving 

 just in time for a special correction after proofs. Your 

 letter of August 10th (insufficiently stamped, by the way) 

 contains solutions of July prolilems. 



E. A. Servante. — The problems shall be examined. 

 Could you not use more conventional diagrams r 



PROBLEMS. 



No. 1 



By H. N. Fellows (Wolverhampton). 



BlACK (-t). 



WniTK (!)). 

 White mates in two moves. 



