38 



KNOWLEDGE. 



Janl',\ry, 1911. 



looking South and about 30" abo\e the horizon ; he is very 

 con\enientIy situated for making ielescopic observation, and 

 with his rings he forms one of the finest sights in the sky. 



The ring may be seen quite well in telescopes of about 

 \i inches aperture with a magnifying power of 40, if the 

 instrument is sufficiently steady and the object glass good ; 

 but larger telescopes are required to see the division in the 

 ring and the belts on .the disc. The planet is in quadrature 

 on the 21st, and sets at 11.24 p.m. on the 31st. 



As seen in the telescope the ring appears fairly open, since 

 we are looking on the Southern surface at an angle of 16°. 

 The apparent diameters of the outer major and minor axes of 

 the ring are respectively 42" and 1 2". whilst the diameter of 

 the ball is 17". 



The Moon appears near the pLiiut lui tin- Stii. 

 Ur.wi'S : — 



Uranus is in conjunction with the Sun on the 16th January ; 

 hence the planet will be unobservabk- throughout January and 

 February. 



Neptune : — 



Neptune is in opposition to the Sun on the 11th. hence 

 about this date he is on the meridian at midnight. The planet 

 is situated in Gemini, about three and a half degrees South- 

 East of the star 5 Geminorum. but he is difficult to identify 



except in large telescopes. He may, however, be detected by 

 his relative motion if successive observations are made at 

 intervals of some days. 



Meteor Showers: — 



Miniiua of Algol occur on the 4th at 11.35 p.m., 7th at 8.24 

 p.m., 10th at 5.13 p.m., 27th at 10.7 p.m., and the 30th at 6.56 

 p.m. The period is 2"" 20*^ 49°" from which data other minima 

 may be calculated. 



Telescopic Objects: — 



Nebul.^e. — Orion Nebula, situated in the sword of Orion, 

 and surrounding the multiple star 9. is the finest of all nebulae; 

 with a three or four inch telescope it is best observed when 

 low powers are employed. 



Crab Nebula (M D. in Taurus, situated about IV North- 

 west of .f Tauri, in K.A. 5^ 29", Dec. 21° 58' N. 



Cluster. — M 37. situated in Auriga, is one of the finest 

 clusters, and verv compact ; its position is R.A. 5'' 46", 

 Dec. il" 32' N. 



Double Stars. — /i Orionis IRigell. mags. 1 and 9, separa- 

 tion y". On account of the brightness of the principal star, 

 this double is a fair test for a good object-glass of about three- 

 inch aperture. 



S Orionis, mags. 2 and 7, separation 53 " ; easy double. 



.t Orionis, triple, mags. 3. 6, and 10, separation 2"'5and56"; 

 rather difficult in a three-inch telescope. 



X Orionis, mags. 4 and 6, separation 4"' 3 : pretty double. 



<r C)rionis, triple, mags. 4, 8, and 7, separation 12"'5 and 42". 



NOTICE.S. 



YEAR BOOKS. — From Messrs. Adam and Charles Black 

 we have received "Who's Who" for 1911 (price 10 - net). 

 Apart from being indispensable to everyone who is doing any 

 public or commercial work. "Who's Who" contains many 

 facts of considerable interest and not a little humour, as those 

 will find who take the trouble to dip into its concise biographies. 

 From the same publishers comes the "Englishwoman's Year 

 Book " (price 2 6 net), which this year has been divided into two 

 parts, the first dealing with education, professions and social life, 

 and the second with philanthropic work more particularly. 



The " Writers' and Artists' Year Book" (price 1 - iietl. is 

 chiefly of value to literary people and should be of particular 

 use to those who are thinking of getting a living by their pen. 



■■ The Year Book of Scientific and Learned Societies," 

 published by Messrs. Charles Griffin & Company (price 7 6), 

 has for more than a quarter of a century given the more 

 important details with regard to all the scientific and learned 

 societies in this country, and set forth the titles of every paper 

 and lecture read or delivered before theiu during the year with 

 the name of the author. The issue for 1910 is in every way 

 equal to its predecessors and it is obvious that few scientific 

 workers fail can to get some information or inspiration from 

 a study of its contents. 



.•\mong other Year Books which we have received are 

 "Whitaker's Almanack" (price 1/-; in cloth 2/6 net. I, and 

 "Whitaker's Peerage" (price 5/- net.), which present certain 

 new features but which are more particularly useful on account 

 of the old ones. 



SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS.— We have received from 

 the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, two illustrated 

 leaflets. The first deals with a large sliding microtome which 

 is important from a scientific point of view as with it very 

 large sections can be ctit from material embedded in celloidin. 

 In point of fact the maximum size is 150'"" by 120""", that is, the 

 largest section will measure 6 X4i inches; and in illustration of 

 the capabilities of the instrument a figure is given of a 

 complete section of a human leg six inches above the ankle, 

 which was prepared and cut by the new microtome at the 

 .\natomy School at Cambridge University. 



The other piece of apparatus is an automatic temperature 

 regulator which is specially valuable in its application to 

 industries. In jam factories, for instance, the girls often badh' 

 scald their hands owing to the water used for washing jars 

 becoming too hot. To take another case, the hot potash used 

 by electro-platers can be kept at the most efficient teiuperature 

 and prevented from boiling over. The thermostat, which 

 does the regulating, is dependent upon the fact that a tube of 

 brass expands with heat while a rod of nickel steel within 

 does not appreciably change its length. 



APPOINTMENT. — We are pleased to notice that Messrs. 

 E. Dent and Company, Limited, of 61, Strand, and 4, Royal 

 Exchange, have received a royal warrant, appointing them 

 watch, clock, and chronometer makers to His Majesty King 

 George the Fifth. 



