October. 1901.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



239 



under ivally gixxi atniosplieriv' coiulitions. iiml it will gononilly bo 

 found that tlio IVrsi'id? arc preseutod to tlu' iM'jt effivt in those 

 |>artiouliir years when I'loar skies and ahsonee of moonlight favour 

 their api>arition. At most places the sky was clear or partly so on 

 Augiist loth and lltl\ this year, and at some stations on August 12th 

 also. The maximum appeai-s to have oeeurre<l on the early morning 

 of August 13th. At Bristol there were clouds on August 12th, 13th 

 and 14th. but the next t<n nights were clear, and olTcred a ren\arkahle 

 opi>orlunity for tracing the display during its dosing stages. Observa- 

 tions were obtaimd on every night between the 15th and 22nd 

 inclusive by the writer, and 22lt meteors were seen. A few Pci-seids 

 wer<' presented on every night of the periml, though on .Vugust 17tli 

 and lath the number was not sufficient to indicate a good radiant. 

 On other dates the [losition was determined as follows : — 

 Date. o o 



It is dillieult to trace the Perseid centre after August IStli, as there 

 are several showers of Camelopardids which are situated in the same 

 region, and which supply metcoi's of the same visible aspect as the 

 Perseids. A mass of very exact observations are required for several 

 successive nights at this special period, when it might be po.ssilile to 

 satisfactorily identify the meteors and assign their individual radiants. 

 A large number of minor showers were seen in contemporary action 

 with the Perseids this year, but for the mott part they were extremely 

 feeble. The wTiter tliought the better definetl of these were as 

 below : — 



o o Meteors. ' o 



5 310 



6 312 

 5 335 



7 335 

 . 7 345 



5 31!) 



10 



3.50 - 



The latter seems to be a new shower. It supplied very slow meteors. 



A comparison of the apparent paths registered by various observers 

 lias shown that about a dozen of the same meteors were noted at two 

 or more stations. The real paths of these have been computed. 

 Perhaps the most interesting object of tliis kind was seen on August 

 20th at llh. 14m. at Bristol and Halifax. It was a small fireball 

 brighter than Jupiter, and it fell from heights of 66 to 33 miles along 

 a jath of 44 miles, which it traversed at the rate of about 13 miles 

 per second. The trail of the meteor is fortunately present on a photo- 

 graph taken by Mr. C. J. Spencer at Halifax, which shows tliat the 

 object, as it slowly penetrated the atmosphere, exhibited marked 

 fluctuations in its light sufficient to give the trail a beaded aspect. 



From various reports receive<l from observers it appears that the 

 shower was very generally and successfully witnessed this year, and 

 it is clear that from certain of the descriptions already published 

 some sensational things were seen. The various reports show how 

 utterly impossible it is to reconcile the seeings of different persons, 

 and that it is not only in the employment of telescopes, but in simple 

 naked eye observation also, that we must attempt to smooth away 

 large discordances on the assumption of ^^ighty " personal eij^uation." 

 There is no doubt whatever that the Perseid shower of 1901 came and 

 went without furnishing in itself any really startling features. 



THE FACE OF THE SKY FOR OCTOBER. 



Bj A. FOWLEE, F.E.A.S. 



The Sun. — On the 1st tlie sun rises at 6.3, and sets 

 at -5.37 ; on the 31st he rises at 6.-54, and sets at 4.34. 



The Moo5^. — The moon will enter last quarter on the 

 4th at 8. .52 p.m., will be new on the 12th at 1.11 p.m., 

 will enter first quarter on the 20th at .5. -58 p.m., aud will 

 be full on the 27th at 3.6 p.m. A partial eclipse occurs 

 on the 27th, but as the last contact with the shadow is at 

 4.6 P.M., and the moon does not ri.se at Greenwich until 

 4.3-5, the phenomenon for this country will only amount to 

 a penumbral eclipse in daylight. The eclipse ends at 

 •5.26 P.M. The following are among the occultations visiljle 

 at Greenwich during the month : — 



Oct. 



I 



B.A.C. 12W 

 71 Orionifi 

 iW) Ciuicri 

 f Opbiuolii 

 c' Ciipricorni 

 X At|iuirii 

 A Pisoium 

 o Arietis 



129 



58 

 39 

 119 

 153 

 lil 

 73 

 Ills 



169 

 61 



78 

 l:» 

 l:!8 



<1. h. 



19 2 



21 8 



24 « 



5 4 



10 8 



11 8 



12 11 

 15 17 



Attention may be specially drawn to the interesting 

 occultation of c' Capricorni on the evening of the 22nd. 



The Planets. — Mercury is an evening star, at greatest 

 eastern elongation of 25" on the 12t]i, but of too greal a 

 southerly declination for obsen-ations in our latitudes. 



Venus is .also an evening star, setting aliont an hour 

 after the sun on the Isr, and about Hi. 50iu. after him on 

 the 31st. The jilanet will be low down in the south-west 

 after sunset. At the middle of the month nearly three- 

 quarters of the disc will be illuminated, and the apparent 

 diameter will be 1G"2. 



Mars is an evening star, but for practieal purposes is 

 not observable. 



Jupiter remains an evening star, setting on the 1st at 

 about 9.30 p.m., and on the 31st at about 7.-50 p.m. The 

 polar diameter diminishes from 3o"5 to 32"-7 during the 

 month. The more interesting phenomena of the satellites, 

 which may be obseiwed at Greenwich under favourable 

 atmospheric conditions, are as follows : — 



H. M. ] H. M. 



1st.- 



2nd.— 



8tli. 



9th.— 



loth, 



Saturn is a little east of Jupiter, the distance between 

 the two planets diiuinisliing to about 4° about the middle 

 of the month. It will be interesting to watch the gradual 

 approach of the two planets towards their conjunction of 

 November 28th, when Jupiter will be a little less than 

 half a degree south of Saturn. Saturn is in quadrature 

 with the sun at midnight on the 3rd. On the 12th the 

 apparent outer major and minor axes of the ring are 

 38"04 and 16"'45 respectively, while the polar diameter 

 of the ball is 15"-2. 



Uranus is too near the sun for observation, 



Neptune may be observed before midnight througliout 

 the month, rising on the 1st about 9.20 p,m,, and on the 

 31st about 7,20 p.m. The planet is in the western part of 

 Gemini, stationary on the 5th, after which it describes a 

 short westerly path, about 2in, 40s, preceding and 16' 30" 

 south of 1) Geminorum. 



The Stabs, — About 9 p,m., at the middle of the month, 

 Auriga and Perseus will be in the north-east; Taurus low 

 down in the east ; Aries, Pisces, aud Cetus in the south- 

 east ; Andromeda and Cassiopeia high up a little south of 

 east; Pegasus and Afjuarius in the south; Cygnus liigii 

 up to the south-west; Aquila a little lower in the soutli- 

 west ; Lyra and Hercules towards the west ; Corona 

 towards the north-west ; aud Ursa Major in the north. 



Minima of Algol will occur on the 11th at 11,1 1"..m., 

 and on the 14th at 7.-50 p.m. 



