January 29, 190,3] 



NA 7 URE 



307 



log r log 4 



C062 0*141 



0064 0142 



0067 OI44 



Comet 1902 ^(Giacobini). — A daily ephemerisof this comet 

 is given l>y M. G. Fayet in No. 3840 uf the Astronomische 

 Nachricliten. The following is an extract therefrom : — 



12,4. A/.T. Paris. 



Date. c $ log r. log A. Bright- 



h. m. s. „ ness. 



Jan. 2Q ... 6 43 16 +12 53-2 0-4524 02871 1 48 



Feb. 2... 641 15 +14 127 0-4513 02911 146 



<• ... 6 39 33 +15 31-2 0-4502 0-2961 1-43 



,, 10 ... 6 38 13 +16 4S3 04493 0-3019 1-40 



,, 14 ... 6 37 17 +iS 3-5 0-4484 03085 136 



,, 18 ... 63645 +19 16-4 0-4476 0-3158 132 



22 ... 6 36 38 +20 267 0-4469 03237 1-28 



„ 26 ... 6 36 58 +21 343 O4463 03321 I 24 



Mar. 2 ... 6 37 44 +22 39-0 0-4458 0-3408 119 

 Brightness at time of di>covery = 1 "O. 



Comet 1903 a (Giacobini). — The following ephemeris has 

 been calculated by Herr M. Ebell and Prof. H. Kreutz {Kiel 

 Circular, No. 57). 



Ephemeris for I2.h. M.T. Berlin. 

 Date. a. $ log. .1 Brightness 



h m. s. o / 



Jan. 31 ... 23 11 57 ... +5 24-9 ... 0-2043 .. 1-9 



Feb. 4 ... 23 17 25 ... +6 356 ... 0-1909 ... 2-4 



8 ... 23 23 17 ... +7 51-3 ... o 1753 ... 30 



12 ... 23 29 35 ... +9 13-1 ... 0-1573 ... 3-8 



Brightness at timr of discovery = I'o. 



Seakch-Ethemeris for the Comet Tempel 3 -Swtft. — 

 In No. 3S40 of the Ash onomiscke Nachricliten, M. J. B issett 

 gives a daily ephemeris for the seaich of this comet from which 

 the following is an abstract : — 



12/i. M.T. Paris. 

 Date & & 



h. m. s. o / 



Jan. 29 ... O S 43 ... +5 17-4 

 Feb. I ... o 20 24 ... + 6 25 4 

 3 ... o 28 15 ... + 7 10 5 

 6 ... 040 9 ... +8177 

 8 ... 048 9 ... +9 20 

 11 1 o 14 ... +10 7-6 



13 ■■■ 1 S 21 ... +10 50-7 ... 0072 0-148 

 A Bright Meteor. — Mr. C J. Lacy, writing to the Times 

 from Fleet, Hants says that on January 25, at 7.57 p.m., he 

 observed a very bright meteor. " ft first attracted my attention 

 near the zenith, and must have come within our range a few 

 degrees to the south of Capella, which star, being directly in its 

 path, was possibly even occulted. It siiled slowly and majest- 

 ically in a N.N. VV. direction, passing about two degrees north 

 of Cassiopea and finally disappearing near the star Alderimin 

 in Cepheus." The head was remarkably brilliant and the tail 

 was about ten or eleven degrees in length. 



The Planet Mars.— In the January Bulletin tie la Soen'te 

 astronomique cle France, M. E. Touchet gives some details 

 respecting the coming opposition of Mars, and directs special 

 attention to the fact that between February 27 and August 20 

 of this year, observers will have the opportunity of observing 

 the phenomena attending the Martian summer in the northern 

 hemisphere. The disappearance of the snow-cap will be the 

 main teature, and is easily seen with small instruments. 



Two excellent coloured drawings of this planet, as observed 

 with the 9i-inch equatorial at Juvisy by MM. Flammarion 

 and Antoniadi during the last opposition, accompany the article. 

 Report of the Harvard College Observatory.— The 

 fifty-seventh annual report of this observatory deals with the 

 work done during the year which ended on September 30, 

 1902. 



A recent anonymous gift of twenty thousand dollars has 

 enabled the authorities to erect a new fireproof wing in which 

 to store the immense library of negatives which they now 

 possess, and also to contract with Messrs. Alvan Clark and 

 Sons for a new 2-foot reflector, which will be used, first at 

 Cambridge (Mass.) and then at Arequipa, for obtaining 

 photographs of faint objects in all parts of the sky. 



Seventeen thousand photometric light comparisons, observed 

 with the East equatorial, 66,932 settings of the 1 2-inch meridian 

 photometer and 107S4 measures with the smaller meridian 

 photometer have been made during the year by Profs. Wendell, 

 E. C. Pickering and Bailey respectively. 

 The " Henry Draper Memorial " photographs now show the 



spectrum of every star in the sky which is permanently greater 

 than the ninth or tenth magnitude, besides many more which 

 are fainter. 



Prof. B.iiley has been to Arequipa, taking the meridian 

 photometer with him, in order to obtain measures of comparison 

 stars for the observation of Eros at its next opposition, when it 

 will be too far south for the European and United Slates 

 observatories to observe it. 



The Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, carried on at the 

 expense and under the direction of Mr. Rotch, has made several 

 special series of observations during 1902, amongst which the 

 determination of the meteorological conditions of the upper 

 atmosphere by means of ki-es his been very successful. It is 

 now proposed to explore the atmosphere above the tropics and 

 the equalor by ihis means. 



The time service is now working under anew system, devised 

 by Mr. Gerrish, in which an electric light, which acts as the 

 signal, is made to pulsate in response to the signals from the 

 standard clock 



NO. 1735, VOL. 67] 



A RECORD OF THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE 

 OF 1898. 



T'HIS interesting report ' has been considerably delayed for the 

 reason given in the preface that the director, Prof. 

 Naegamvala, has been engaged in securing solar and stellar 

 spectra which might assist in discussing the chromosphere 

 spectrum, which he considers was first adequately secured at 

 this eclipse. 



The report gives the usual details as to the selection of a site, 

 ultimately fixed at Jeur, and give-; a full description of the instru- 

 ments used and of the work ,.f the observers. It is liberally 

 furnished with maps and photographs, and we must express our 

 admiration of the excellent manner in which these records have 

 been reproduced. 



The report itself is interesting reading and appeals to a larger 

 audience than professional astronomers ; any intelligent reader 

 casually taking it up will find much to attract his attention. 



The pictures of the corona are particularly fine; maps 

 showing the alterations in its shape at maximum and minimum 

 sun-spot periods, compiled Irom various sources, are appended 

 and may be useful for handy reference." 



The spectrum of the lower chromosphere appears to have been 

 the part of the subject which had the most attraction for Prof. 

 Naegamvala, and he has devoted a large part of the report to this 

 question. Some authorities regard it as a mere reversal of the 

 Fraunhofer spectrum, while others, Sir Norman Lockyer in 

 particular, consider that the reversals take place, not in one thin 

 layer, but at various levels of the solar atmosphere. So far as 

 this point is concerned, Prof. Naegamvala conies to the conclusion 

 that there " can be no question that Lockyer has fully establUhed 

 his contention." With regard to the true explanation of the 

 chromospheric lines in relation to the Fraunhofer spectrum 

 generally, he considers the question to be still sub judice. The 

 very important point of the intensities of the lines of the 

 chromospheric spectrum as compared with those of the 

 Fraunhofer spectrum has, however, not been included in the 

 discussion. 



It is unfortunate that, as Prof. Naegamvala states, the six-inch 

 prismatic camera with which the so-called "flash" spectrum 

 was taken was somewhat out of focus, owing to the brief time 

 at the observer's disposal for its adjustment, and from the 

 reproduction of the plate | the arcs are apparently not sufficiently 

 sharp for accurate measurement. For this purpose, they are 

 distinctly inferior 10 the spectrum obtained by Mr. Shackleton 

 at Novaya Zemlya in 1S96, which, from a remark in the preface, 

 Prof. Naegamvala thinks he has improved on. On this point, 

 we are afraid we cannot agree with him. 



The wave-length of the celebrated "green line" is found by 

 the Poona measurements to be A 53 OI ' IQ 5> which is ralher less 

 than that found by other observers. 



Although we do not think that the many questions connected 

 with eclipses are advanced beyond the point reached by other 

 observers and whose reports were published long ago, we can 

 heartily congratulate Prof. Naegamvala and his eclipse observers 

 on having produced so interesting and readable a volume. 



H. P. 



1 Report-on the total solar eclipse of January, 1898, by Kavaoji Dadabhai 

 Naegamvala, director of the Observatory at Poona. (Bombay : Govern- 

 ment Central Press.) 



