January 1, 1898.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



11 



1808, the comet will be almost stationary at a point 

 six degrees south by east of y Draoonis, its apparent 

 displacement beinf? only ten minutes of arc per day. 

 Its brightness will be 04, as compared with that 

 (adopted as 10) at discovery. The elements show its 

 inclination to be sixty-nine degrees, whence we may infer 

 that its orbit does not deviate much from a parabola. The 

 physical aspect of the comet has been interesting, for it 

 presented a nucleus, coma, and tail. On October 25th, as 

 observed by Mr. F. W. Longbottom, at Chester, with an 

 eighteen and a half inch Calver, the total length of the 

 tail was twenty minutes of arc, and the comet was estimated 

 not quite equivalent in brightness to a ninth magnitude 

 star. The tail was tapering, not fan-like, and stars showed 

 brightly through it on October 80th. 



Several periodical comets were due in 1897, but only one 

 of these was observed, viz., D'Arrest's, which was picked 

 up by Perrine on June 'iSth, more than a month after its 

 perihelion passage. Spitaler's comet of 1800, and Tempel- 

 Swift's comet of 1869-80, also returned to perihelion in 

 the spring, but the conditions were too unfavourable for 

 them to be observed. 



In 1898 five periodical comets are due. Pons-Winnecke's 

 arrives at perihelion in March, Encke's in May, Swift's 

 (1880, VI.) and Wolfs in June, and Tempel's (18G7, II.) 

 in September. The circumstances attending the return of 

 these several objects are by no means good, and in most 

 cases they are likely to escape observation unless some of 

 the large telescopes at present in use are employed in 

 searching for them. 



Mr. C. Hildebrand gives the following ephemeris of 

 Pons-Winnecke's comet : — 



January 



The diurnal motion is therefore about one degree east- 

 wards, and during the month it carries the comet through 

 Libra and Opiucbus. 



It is remarkable how the stream of cometary discovery 

 runs continuously on. No sooner do one or two suc- 

 cessful sweepers leave the field than others step in and 

 pursue the work. Messier, Mechain, and Caroline 

 Herschel, in the latter part of the last century, were 

 succeeded by Pons early in this. He in turn was followed 

 by Tempel, Winnecke, Borrelly, Coggia, and Swift. Then 

 Barnard and Brooks almost monopolized the field for 

 twelve years. To-day Perrine may be regarded as the 

 comet finder \uir e.vcelh nee. for he has worthily emulated 

 Barnard's former discoveries at the Lick Observatory, 

 and has found five new comets within the last three 

 years. 



Meteors. — The November Leonids of 1897 very generally 

 disappointed expectation. Cloudy weather and moonlight 

 were certainly responsible in a great measure for this, and, 

 moreover, there is no doubt that an exaggerated idea as 

 to the probable intensity of the display was encouraged 

 by the majority of those who looked for it. On the basis 

 of reports supplied by eye-witnesses of the phenomena 

 of 1831 and 1804, it was predicted that the shower might 

 equal a rich return of the August Perseids, furnishing, 

 perhaps, one hundred meteors per hour for an observer. 



The time of maximum was mentioned as uncertain, but 

 as sure to be included in the mornings of November 14th 

 and 15th. As events happened the first of these periods 

 was partly clear, while the next morning was cloudy 

 nearly everywhere. Meteors were comparatively rare 

 during the whole night of the 13th, and clouds hid those 

 visible during the following night. In France and America, 

 as well as in England, the experience appears to have been 

 very similar. At a few places, where the sky was clear 

 on the morning of November loth, the Leonids were both 

 numerous and brilliant. At Dumfries, two observers 

 (ignorant of the expected display) were struck at the 

 extraordinary prevalence of shooting stars, and estimated 

 the visible number as ten per minute. Another observer, 

 at Loughborough, saw a considerable number of meteors, 

 including five of great brilliancy, and the time of their 

 maximum frequency seems to have been at about •") a.m. 

 A third observer at Dumfries had his attention arrested 

 by the surprising frequency of meteors, and states that 

 more than five per minute were perceptible. At Derby 

 meteors were so abundant as to cause special remark. 

 Eighteen fine ones were noticed between 3h. 30m. and 

 5h. A.M., and these included two nearly as bright as the 

 full moon. Prof. Lewis Swift also reports from Echo 

 Moimtain, California, that " the Leonids made their appear- 

 ance on the morning of November 15th, ninety-seven 

 having been counted by one person." From these and 

 other corroborative accounts it is certain the shower was 

 quite as abundant as expected, and, at places were the sky 

 was clear, sufficiently striking to attract particular attention 

 notwithstanding the moonlight. The idea that the display 

 failed to present itself is due to a misapprehension. On 

 the preceding night the experience of observers seems 

 to have been practically unanimous in describing the 

 meteors as scarcely more numerous than on an ordinary 

 November night. 



Prof. E. C. Pickering, of Harvard, states that the 

 observers at the observatory at Cambridge, ilass., counted 

 only ninety meteors during the night of the 13th, but that 

 these were nearly all Leonids. Prof. 0. Stone, of Richmond, 

 Va., says that on November 13th several meteors were 

 seen from the direction of Leo ; one of them was several 

 times brighter than Venus, and travelled along an arc of 

 ninety degrees, leaving a streak forty degrees in length. 

 The following night was cloudy, and nothing could be seen. 

 Prof. Barnard, at the Yerkes Observatory, saw nothing 

 on November 18th and 14th, as clouds and rain prevailed 

 each night. In England a few meteors were seen on 

 November 13th, but they caU for no special remark. 

 Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer, of South Kensington, recorded a 

 number of paths, and others were registered by Mr. 

 Salmon, of South Croydon, and Mr. Besley at Westminster. 

 These materials show that, though the Leonids returned on 

 the night of November 13th, the shower was very feebly 

 represented. These and many other observers were 

 baulked by clouds in their efforts to secure observations 

 on the night of November 14th. At Bristol the sky was 

 overcast throughout, though at 5 a. jr. on the 15th the 

 clouds became thinner, and the moon shone faintly through 

 them, but no meteors could have been observed unless they 

 were of great brilliancy. 



Observers of meteors will be interested in watching for 

 the January shower from Quadrans, usually visible on the 

 2nd of that month. The moon will, however, partly 

 interfere in the evening, and the best time to observe the 

 display will be between 3 and 6 a.m. on January 2nd. 

 The radiant is at 280° + 52°, and the shower is often 

 a conspicuous one, furnishing rather swift, long-pathed 

 meteors. 



