DercEMBER 13, 1905| 
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ance in the world of work and the world of society. 
Prominence is given to men of science who have added to 
knowledge, and many foreign investigators are recognised 
equally with those of our own country. There is, however, 
a striking disparity in the amount of detail provided in 
the various life-histories; while in the case of some 
American scientific workers details are provided of each 
step in their careers and of their individual papers, many 
Fellows of the Royal Society supply the reader with next 
to nothing about themselves; but as a whole ‘‘ Who’s 
Who” is an indispensable work of reference, and the 
editor is to be congratulated upon its completeness. The 
tables which were formerly included with the biographies, 
and were, in fact, the nucleus of the book, are published 
separately in an extended form under the title “‘ Who’s 
Who Year-book, 1907.” 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 
Comet 1906g (THIELE).—A new set of elements and an 
ephemeris for this comet, computed by Dr. E. Strémgren, 
appear in No. 4138 of the Astronomische Nachrichten. 
The following is an extract from the ephemeris :— 
Ephemeris 12h. M.T. Berlin. 
7906 erate) § (true) 1906 a (true) 6 (true) 
. m. wee - m. Stripe 
Dec. 14 ... 12/50)... +53 6°4|Dec. 26... 14 35 ... +58 24°6 
DOM ek 3320... 55 29:2 Ome Si e2s-< 959 1373 
AzeremIA Sian 5 7, 1207 
On the last-named date the brightness of the comet 
will be about half that at the time of discovery 
(mag. =8:-5). 
The results of a number of observations of this object 
appear in No. 4137 of the same journal. 
Comet 1906h (MetcaLr).—Numerous observations of this 
comet are recorded in No. 4138 of the Astronomische 
Nachrichten, and an ephemeris and set of elements, calcu- 
fated by Herr’M. Ebell, are also given. 
Observing this object with the large equatorial of the 
Bordeaux Observatory on November 22, M. E. Esclangon 
perceived two nebulosities near to his comparison star 
B.D. —3°-696. These objects were easily visible, and 
differed in shape, the first being elongated, with a length 
of about 30”, and the second being circular, with a 
diameter of about 20”. Taking a and 6 as the equatorial 
coordinates of the star B.D.—3°-696, the coordinates of 
the respective centres of the nebulosities at 11h. 30m. 
(M.T. Bordeaux) on November 22 were 
a—64s., 5+6”, and a—5-3s., 5—2' 20", 
but the various settings on the second object appeared to 
show an hourly movement of a=+0-7s., 6=—7". On 
November 23 M. Esclangon was unable to re-discover these 
nebulosities. 
On receiving the news of this observation it occurred 
to Prof. Kreutz that the nebulosities might be companions 
to comet 1906h, and he therefore asked for observations 
of B.D.—3°-696 from several other observatories. Prof. 
Millosevich replied that he could find no appendices to 
thjs star, which was, however, unfavourably placed for 
observation, whilst at the time of publication no other 
observers had been able to make the desired observations. 
A MetTeoRITE IN THE ATLANTIC (OcTOBER 17).—The 
owners of the Prince line of steamers have received a 
letter, published in the Liverpool Journal of Commerce 
(November 27), from Mr. C. B. Anderson, captain of the 
African Prince, describing the fall of a meteorite observed 
by him on October 17. Captain Anderson says, in the 
course of his letter :—“‘ On the evening of October 17 I was 
on the bridge with the second officer, when suddenly the 
dark night was as light as day, and an immense meteor 
shot comparatively slowly at first, because the direction was 
so very perpendicular to our position, then more rapidly 
towards the earth. Its train of light was an immense 
NO. 1937. VOL. 75| 
broad electric-coloured band, gradually turning to orange, 
and then to the colour of molten metal. When the meteor 
came into the denser atmosphere close to the earth, it 
appeared, as nearly as it is possible to describe it, like 
a molten mass of metal being poured out. It entered the 
water with a hissing noise close to the ship.” 
Some REMARKABLE SMALL NeBuL#.—In No. 4136 of the 
Astronomische Nachrichten Prof. Barnard describes, and 
gives diagrams of, several remarkable groups of small 
nebulae which he has discovered since 1888. 
In the first group there are six nebula, two of which 
were probably originally discovered by Stephan, in a 
circular field of 16’ diameter. The second group also 
contains six, two of which are remarkably small and are 
elongated, and several other nebula were suspected in the 
same field. From the frequency with which these groups 
occur associated in isolated, compact clusters, Prof. 
Barnard thinks there can be no doubt but that the members 
of each group are physically connected. Both the above 
groups, and two others, found in 1889 and 1890 respectively, 
were discovered with the 12-inch refractor of the Lick 
Observatory. 
Another nebula, which from its remarkable shape Prof. 
Barnard has named the ‘‘ Bug Nebula,’’ was discovered 
by him, with a 5-inch refractor, in 1880. This object, as 
seen in the 36-inch refractor, is a triple nebula having 
streamers running in a north-preceding direction from the 
two preceding components, and two nebulous arches spring- 
ing from the following component, thus giving the whole 
the appearance of a ghostly beetle of some kind. In the 
N.G.C. it is designated by the number 6302. 
Tue Periop or 6 Cepuet.—Finding that the observations 
of the interesting spectroscopic binary 6 Cephei, made 
during 1901 and 1902, were insufficient to fix the period 
with certainty, although they showed that in all prob- 
ability it was exceptionally short, Prof. Frost made arrange- 
ments to obtain several spectrograms on each observing 
night during the past summer, and now publishes a pre- 
liminary account of the results in No. 4, vol. xxiv., of 
the Astrophysical Journal. 
As many as twenty two-prism plates, with an average 
exposure of twenty minutes, were secured in one night, and 
the preliminary discussion of the total shows that the 
period of the star’s radial velocity is probably very near 
to 4h. 34m. 11s. The provisional measures also indicate 
a range of velocity of about 34 km., from about +12 km. 
to —22 km. 
Some speculations as to the radius of the orbital motion 
of the bright component and the inclination of the orbit 
to the line of sight suggest that the bright body must be 
near to the centre of gravity of the system, and they also 
raise the question as to whether the two components must 
not be nearly in contact. Indications of the second-com- 
ponent spectrum suggest that the difference between the 
magnitudes of the two bodies may be small. 
If these preliminary measures are confirmed, the period 
of B Cephei is by far the shortest yet discovered for a 
spectroscopic binary star. 
New Varraste Stars.—By the method of superimposing 
a negative upon a positive of the same region taken on a 
different date, Miss Leavitt has discovered twenty-eight 
new variable stars in the region of the Southern Cross and 
the ‘‘ Coal-sack.’’? Two others were discovered on a plate 
having the Orion nebula at its centre, and one on a plate 
having the Pleiades central. Prof. Pickering remarks on 
the paucity of variable stars in the vicinity of the Pleiades, 
and states that the conditions in that region seem to favour 
unusual constancy in light. The position and the range 
of variability of each of these thirty-one variables are given 
in Circular No. 120 of the Harvard College Observatory. 
OBSERVATIONS OF PH@RBE IN 1906.—From Circular No. 
119 of the Harvard College Observatory we learn that 
nine additional photographs of Saturn showing images of 
Phoebe were obtained with the 24-inch Bruce telescope 
at Arequipa during August and September last. These 
photographs have been measured, and the resultant posi- 
tions of the satellite in respect to Saturn are given in 
the Circular. 
