114 



jVA TURE 



[May 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Saturn 



Geminorum, 



Capricorni 



3.A.C. 4531 



s Sat^ IV. 

 w' Scorpii 



Astronomical Occurrences in June. 

 June 3. I4h. 4m. to I5h. 13m. Moon occults ^ Sagittarii 

 (mag. 4-1). 



3. I5h. 6ni. to i6h. 12m. Moon occults 15 Sagittarii 



(mag. 5-6). 



4. 9h. Jupiter in conjunction with moon, Jupiter 3° 53' S. 

 4. I4h. 49m. to I5h. 59m. Moon occults B.A.C. 6536 



(mag. 5-5). 



4. I7h. Saturn in conjunction with m 



3° 43' S. 



5. 20h. Uranus in opposition to the sun. 

 7. oh. Mercury in conjunction with e 



star 4' N. 

 7. I4h. 59'n- to 15I1. 54m. Moon occults 

 (mag. 5-2). 



14. Saturn. Outer minor axis of the outer ring = 17""58 



15. Venus. Illuminated portion of disc = 0'977, Mars = 



0890 

 15. X7h. Mercury at greatest elongation, E. 24° 39'. 



24. I2h. 2m. Minimum of Algol (S Persei) 



25. 7h. 57ni. to gh. i8m. Moon occults 



(mag. 57). 



27. 8h. 51m. Minimum of Algol (a Persei). 



28. 9h. 47m. to iih. 54m. Transit of Jupiter 

 28. Ilh. 15m. to I2h. I5ni. Moon occults 



(mag. 4-1 ). 

 28. iih. 30m. to I2h. 4Sm. Moon occults uT- Scorpii 



(mag. 4-6). 

 30. 5h. Jupiter in opposition to the sun. 

 30. lohi 4m. to I2h. 2im. Transit of Jupiter's Sat. I. 



The satellite will be almost centrally superposed on 



its own shadow. 



The Recent Total Eclipse of the Sun. — A further 

 telegram from the Times correspondent at Sawahloento, dated 

 May 23 gives a few more particulars respecting the results 

 obtained by the various observers occupying the stations in or 

 near Sumatra. The weather is described as having been 

 moderately good at all these stations — best at Fort de 

 Koch, worst at Solok — thin clouds were present at most. of 

 them. 



In all eleven camps were formed, comprising one Dutch, 

 two English, four American, one Russian, one French, one 

 Jesuit and one Japanese. Generally partial success is reported 

 from most of the camps, the unfortunate exception being that 

 of Prof. Barnard, who had set up a most elaborate collection of 

 instruments at Solok, the chief being a telescope of 61 feet 

 focal length, with which he hoped to obtain photographs of the 

 corona on plates 40 inches square. Three of the plates show 

 only feeble fragments of the brighter portions of the coronal 

 structure. 



It is reported that good photographs of the flash spectrum 

 were obtained here, and no names being mentioned we can 

 only surmise that this refers to the spectroscopic party from the 

 VerUes and United States observatories, who were furnished 

 with powerful spectrographs and established their camp at 

 F'ort de Koch, near by, so as to be approximately on the northern 

 edge of the moon's shadow. Mr. Jewell had charge of a 

 number of gratings of large size, both plane and concave, 

 provided with films 36 inches long, intending to pay special 

 attention to the ultra-violet regions of the chromospheric 

 spectrum. Dr. Humphreys also took spectrographic apparatus. 

 Prof. Skinner, in charge of the American party, had cameras to 

 be used in searching for a possible intra-mercurial planet, but no 

 mention is made of the fate of these observations. 



The duration of totality at the American station was deter- 

 mined at 5m. 47s. instead of 5m. 42s. as predicted. 



In consequence of the unfavourable meteorological conditions, 

 the special investigations depending on the unusually long 

 duration of totality were either unsuccessful or abandoned alto- 

 gether. 



Mr. Dyson, although he had to expose through thin clouds, 

 obtained fairly good large-scale photographs of the corona ; the 

 small-scale plates show a considerable number ol stars. 



Mr. Newall is reported to have obtained good results with a 

 grating spectrograph. Visual observation showed that the 

 brightness of the green coronal ring was very uneven. A series 

 of eight photographs with the polariscopic camera exhibit 

 marked polarisation of the bright portions of the corona, 



NO. 1648, VOL. 64] 



especially in the case of the southern edge of the brightest 

 streamer. 



He was also successful in obtaining good photographs of the 

 corona, which shows considerable similarity to that of last year. 



The observations made to determine the rotation of the corona 

 were unsuccessful. 



M. de la Baume Pluvinel, who also observed among the 

 mountains in Sumatra, announces partially successful results. 



Comet a (1901). — A circular (No. 44) from the Centralstelle 

 gives the following ephemeris for the new comet : — 



Ephemeris for \ik. Berlin Mean Time. 



Hisgen's Variable, 13 (1900) Cvgni. — At the request of 

 Father Hisgen, Prof. E. C. Pickering has had an examination 

 made of the Harvard plates showing the star, and gives the 

 resulting measures in Astronotnische Nachrichteti (Bd. 155, No. 

 3712). 181 plates were found covering the region, extending 

 over the period 18S7 November 30 — 1900 September 26. 



After plotting the measured magnitudes to a time scale it was 

 found that the star varies with moderate regularity in a period 

 of 218 days. It has a magnitude of about io'2 at maximum, 

 and 13 or fainter at minimum. 



THE PLANET SATURN. 



C ATURN now passes the meridian in the morning twilight, 

 "^ and is situated about 4° east of the planet Jupiter. The 

 two objects will form an exceedingly interesting couplet in the 

 southern sky during ensuing months, their times of southing 

 and apparent distances being as follows : — 



Jupiter 



They will be evening stars during the late summer and in the 

 autumn, but early in December will have approached too near 

 to the sun for further observation. For telescopic scrutiny, the 

 proximity of the two bodies will be found very convenient, but 

 their low altitude of about 15° or 16° when due south will 

 operate very unfavourably upon the character of the images. 



It is a matter of common experience that Saturn will satis- 

 factorily bear greater magnifying power than either Mars or 

 Jupiter ; but during the ensuing apparition moderate eyepieces 

 will be best. Even with these, definition will be rarely good in 

 latitudes so far north as Greenwich. The rings are now widely 

 open, and their north side will continue to be presented to the 

 earth until 1907. When Saturn is placed above the equator 

 and traversing the zodiac from Pisces to \'irgo, we see the 

 southern surface of the rings, and the northern surface when he 

 is below the equator and moving from Virgo to Pisces. The 

 rings are turned edgeways towards us, and are practically invisible 

 when the planet is in Virgo and Pisces. 



Well-defined irregular markings are rare on Saturn. Dawes 

 in January 185S saw a bright spot and Asaph Hall followed a 

 similar marking in December 1877, but it soon grew faint and 

 disappeared. Several transits of the latter object were obtained, 

 and a rotation period of loh. 14m. 23-8s., agreeing nearly with 

 Sir William Herschel's loh. i6m. o'4s. from a quintuple belt 



