84 Star anfr Meatber (Boggtp 



vatory was the earth-shine on the moon. This is an 

 appearance which is still a mystery to many people. 

 In a previous chapter I have described it as ashen and 

 olive -coloured by turns, but on the night of Saturday, 

 February 20th, 1915, it was quite ruddy, much 

 ruddier, indeed, than I had ever before seen it. The 

 moon, which was nearly seven days old, was lowering 

 in the west, and the sky was rather murky ; indeed, I 

 had expected a lunar halo appearing earlier in the 

 evening. 



Some years ago a Surrey correspondent asked me 

 why the almanacs had omitted all reference to an 

 eclipse which had occurred on the previous night. It 

 turned out that the earth-light had been more than 

 usually conspicuous. I had always thought this an 

 odd mistake, but not after what I saw on the above- 

 mentioned Saturday, for the moon then certainly 

 seemed to be eclipsed, though, of course, a moment's 

 consideration showed that the relative positions of 

 the sun ' and moon made such a phenomenon im- 

 possible. 



It is the light reflected from the earth which produces 

 the eerie glow on the dark part of the moon. Dr. 

 Slipher made some spectroscopic observations of this 

 light, which have proved that our atmosphere is a 

 very powerful reflector, thus corroborating the high 

 value found theoretically by Dr. Lowell and more 

 recently by Prof. Very. 



In the course of a search for further satellites of 

 Neptune no fewer than forty-nine new variable stars 

 were found. In addition, forty-one asteroid images 

 were discovered. When Dr. Lowell's report of this 

 magnificent record of a single year's work at the Flag- 



