Dec. 1, 1882. 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



431 



Hind's elements. It will be seen that there is considerable 

 discrepancy. The second figure shows the position of the 

 comet's path on 



December 2, at il3 a.m. 



December G, at 4 a.m. 



December 10, at 3-45 a.m. 



For later dates we can refer our readers to "The Stars in 

 their Sea.sons,'' now ready for issue, from which the course 

 can be traced for any hour on any night (or in this case 

 morning). We shall, however, give in due time a map 

 like Fig. 2, for the morning hours in the latter half of 

 December. 



The comet still continues a conspicuous object on moon- 

 less mornings. It will probably be visible with the tele- 

 scope till the end of March, 1883. 



There is now no reason to believe that this comet will 

 soon return. It is travelling along steadily enough in an orbit 

 of great extent, though, as will be inferred from the varying 

 estimates as time proceeds, the exact extent of the orbit 

 is not yet known. The Vienna observation, on which our 

 estimate of the period was (pro\'isionally) based, turns out 

 to have been quite incorrect. 



THE AURORA. 



A MOST brilliant display of the aurora was observed 

 on Friday evening, the 17th ult. It commenced 

 about 4 '30 with a band of beautiful yellow, almost due 

 west, which lasted about ten minutes. A glare of rosy 

 crimson then began to appear in the north, which soon 

 developed into a brilliant arc, with a decidedly greater 

 lustre and size west, where rays of the most brilliant 

 colour were constantly shooting upwards to the zenith. 

 At 5.30 an arc of pale lemon colour appeared under the 

 arc of rose colour, which was greatly augmented in the 

 east, precisely as the rose-colour''d one was in the west, and 

 like it, sending rays up to the zenith, though, of cour.se, of a 

 pale yellow colour. The sky due north below the second arc 

 had a very dark appearance. This was, in fact, noticed the 

 whole time, and seems to me to indicate that the aurora 

 was of great extent. The two arcs at 5.45 seemed to have 

 blended together and to be dying out ; but a few minutes 

 later the rose colour increased with great rapidity, seem- 

 ing to rise in tlie east and pass to the west, where it was 

 brightest. AtG. lOan arc of pale lemon colour appeared 

 for the second time under the arc of rose colour, with 



the same increase of light in the east. Two minutes later 

 occurred the most interesting siglit of the whole display ; a 

 brilliant point of light appeared in the eastern horizon, a 

 little .south of the patch of light which had just appeared 

 there ; this gradually rose with almost visible motion until it 

 had attained the length of about thirty degrees and five 

 degrees in breadth, tapering to a blunt point at either end. 

 Passing a degree south of Saturn, it described an arc so 

 as to just pass over the moon and disappear in the western 

 horizon, close to the patch of rose colour which had been 

 almost stationary in the west during the whole display. It 



I was visible just a minute and a half. The aurora, after 

 this, gradually toned down into an arc of soft white light, 

 which lasted over an hour. By 9.30 there was nothing 



j but a faint light, like that of the rising moon. [A. G. 

 describing the aurora as seen by himself and four others. — 



I Ed.I 



THE GREAT SUN SPOT. 



MR. SYDNEY HODGES has kindly forwarded to us 

 a picture of the sun spot, as drawn by him on 

 Nov. 19, at 8 a.m. We have inverted his picture to show 

 the spot as it would have been seen with an erecting eye- 

 piece, so that it may be more readily compared with our 



own drawing. We give both for comparison. It is singular 

 that Mr. Ilodges should have made his drawing, in our 

 hands before last number appeared, to almost exactly tlie 

 same scale as ours. 



A PownKK Magazine Stiu'ck by Liohtning. — A 

 despatch from Scutari, in Albania, dated Nov. 17, st&+«d 

 that the powder magazine of the fortress at that place hi d 

 been exploded by lightning. There was no loss of life. 



