August 1, 1899.] 



KNOWLEDGE, 



177 



together, because a whole magnitude in the second class 

 cannot well be mistaken, coarse as is the type to which the 

 reference is made." Sir John Herschel, while at the Cape 

 of Good Hope (1834—1838), estimated & Leonis as 2-63 

 mag., and / 2-34, or / distinctly brighter than ^. 

 In recent years, /? was measured with the " wedge " 

 photometer at Oxford as 2-07, and with the 

 meridian photometer at Harvard (U.S.A.), 2-23, y Leonis 

 being 2-12 at Oxford and 2-24 at Harvard. These 

 results make the stars nearly equal in brightness ; but my 

 own observations show that 3 is now distinctly brighter 

 than -/. The difference is conspicuous at a glance, and is 

 unmistakable ; and I can assert with confidence that if y 

 Leonis was ever brighter than f3, as expressly stated by Sir 

 W. Herschel, one of the stars is most certainly variable. 

 In February, 1885, and March, 1887, I found p percep- 

 tibly brighter than y ; January 17th, 1889, p distinctly 

 brighter than y, and not very much inferior to Eegulus — 

 perhaps not more than half a magnitude ; February 27th, 



1889, /3 about a quarter magnitude brighter than y, 

 although 3 was at a lower altitude ; April 14th and 17th, 



1890, /8 nearly half a magnitude brighter than y, although 

 P was lower in the sky at the time of observation. At 

 present /3 is distinctly brighter than y. In February and 

 March of the present year I found 3, on several occasions, 

 three or four steps brighter than y, and my observations 

 were confirmed by Dr. Kelly, of Blackrock, Co. Dublin — 

 an experienced and accurate observer of variable stars. 



S UrsiB Majoris. — This is the faintest of the weU-known 

 seven stars forming the Plough, or Charles' Wain, and has 

 been long suspected of variation, as it was rated of the 

 2nd magnitude by Tycho and the Prince of Hesse, whUe 

 Sufi and Argelander give it 3-4 (31), Bradley 3, and Heis 

 4-3. It was measured 3-41 at Oxford and 3-41 at Harvard. 

 On December 7th, 1888, 1 found it equal to xDraconisand 

 slightly brighter than x Draconis. But a Draconis has 

 also been suspected of variability, as it was rated 2nd mag- 

 nitude by Tycho Brahe, Hevelius, Bradley and Flamsteed ; 

 3rd magnitude by Ulugh Beigh, and only 3-4 by Ptolemy, 

 Sufi, Argelander, and Heis. With reference to o Ursas 

 Majoris, Schcinfeld remarked, " Hinlanglish bestatigt, 

 lange Periode.' The period must be long, as it has not 

 varied much in brightness for many years. Some of the 

 other stars in the Plough have been suspected of variable 

 light. Sir John Herschel, in 1838, thought that £ was 

 the brightest of the seven, but in 1847 he found r^ facile 

 princeps. Franks, in 1878, found s decidedly the leader, 

 and the sequence e, y„ ?, a, /3, y, S. According to the Ox- 

 ford photometrical measures the sequence is i;, t, a X, p.y, 8. 

 and according to the Harvard measures £, a, i;, ?, y, P, *. 

 On the evening of November 3rd, 1898 (6.45 p.m.), in a 

 clear, moonless sky, I found, by a very careful estimate, 

 the following sequence: — a. = s, ^, i„ ^, y, 5 ; but as the 

 brightest stars of the set are so nearly equal in brilliancy, 

 it is difficult to decide which, if any, are really variable. 



a. Hydric. — This reddish star, called by the Arabians 

 al-faid, " the soUtary one,"' owing to its isolated position 

 in the heavens, south of the sickle in Leo, was called 

 " Choo'Neaon," the red bird, in the Chinese Annals, and 

 is spoken of as red by Sufi. Sir John Herschel suspected 

 variation in its light, and says ("Cape Observations," p. 

 349) : "At the time I regarded the observations as satisfac- 

 tory, and the results as sufficiently established ; but the 

 occurrence of a similar phenomenon with a period nearly 

 identical in the case of a Cassiopeife, the period in each 

 case being nearly a lunation, inclines me to distrust both 

 conclusions, and to believe that the colour of the stars (in 

 both cases verging to redness) has afiected the judgment 

 in the presence of moonlight differently from that of the 



stars of comparison." As, however, x Cassiopeioe has 

 since proved to be really variable, it seems probable that 

 a. Hydrse may be variable also. Gemmill observed it to 

 be very bright on February 20th, 1882, and its red colour 

 very conspicuous. He found it again remarkably bright on 

 May 9th, 1883, when he thought it nearly equal to PoUux. 

 It was measured 2-22 at Oxford and 2-02 at Harvard. 



^ Ursfe Minoris. — This star was rated of the second 

 magnitude by Ptolemy, Sufi, Argelander, and Heis. In the 

 " Cape Observations," Sir John Herschel gives observations 

 of this star and concludes that it is certainly variable with 

 a period of perhaps over ten years. From observations in 

 1881 and 1882, Espin thought it variable from 2-2 to 2-8 

 magnitude with a period of about 10-67 days. His 

 observations were confirmed by Read, but the star has not 

 yet been admitted into the ranks of known variables. 



A Draconis. — I have long suspected this starof variability, 

 as my own observations, 1876 to ls91, show decided 

 fluctuations of light. Sir WUliam Herschel found it 

 ejractly equal to k Draconis. On January 30th, and 

 February 17th, 1876, 1 noticed that it was a little less than 

 K, and on the latter date I rated it 4th magnitude, and 

 its colour orange. On January 12th, 1877, I found X 

 slightly brifihter than k, but on December 13th, 1878, I 

 recorded it as a J magnitude /:?('» fcr than k. Observations 

 in subsequent years make it always less than k, and on 

 January 24th and 26th, 1889, I found it six steps, or 

 about I magnitude less than «. On February 2nd, 1899, 

 I fotmd A nearly one magnitude fainter than k. Either 

 X or K is therefore probably variable, and it seems more 

 probable that a is the variable, as its colour is orange and 

 many of the reddish stars are known variables. 



5 Serpentis. — This star was rated 4th magnitude by 

 Ptolemy, Sufi, Ulugh Beigh, Lacaiile, and Pigott ; but 

 3rd magnitude by Tycho Brahe, Hevelius, Bayer, Flam- 

 steed, Bradley and de Zach. Piazzi and Smyth made it 

 4i, and Montanari called it 5. The Cordoba estimates 

 vary from 4-1 to 4-6, and Dr. Gould thought there were 

 strong indications of variability in one of the components 

 (it is a double star). He gives the magnitudes as 4-5 and 

 4-7, but on one occasion at Harvard a difference of 1-4 

 magnitude was noted. 



(To be continiud.) 



THE NEW ALGOL VARIABLE IN CYGNUS, 

 + 45= 3062. 



AN announcement is made in the Astronomische Nach- 

 richten, Vol. 149, p. 271, that the star +45° 3062, 

 R.A. = 20' 2-4", Dec. - + 45^ 53' (1855), magn. 8-6, 

 _ is a variable star of the Algol tj-pe. Mme. L. 

 Ceraski, of Moscow, found it abnormally faint on 

 a photographic plate taken on May 20, 1898, and M. S. 

 Blajkc, after observing it visually for a long time, found it 

 again at minimum on May 7, 1899. An examination was 

 accordingly made of the Draper Memorial photographs to 

 determine the nature of the variation. The region was 

 covered by one hundred and ninety-five plates, one hundred 

 and seventy of which showed the star at its full brightness, 

 and twenty when it was below its normal brightness. 

 From a discussion of these plates it appears that the 

 minima they indicate, as well as the two minima found at 

 Moscow, may be closely represented by the formula 

 J. D. 2,411, 343''-605 -(- 4''-57294 E. The period, therefore, 

 13 4^* 18* 45"" 2', with an uncertainty which probably does 

 not exceed one or two seconds. The variation in bright- 

 ness of this star amounts to about three magnitudes, and, 

 therefore, exceeds that of any Algol star hitherto discovered. 

 Like all other Algol stars, its spectrum is of the first type. 



