March 1 8, 1875] 



NA TUBE 



387 



term it, for in some positions the southerly is the longer. Neither 

 can it arise from the lack of force on their part, for they often 

 blow for days at a time, and the total number of foot pounds 

 acting on any particular spot must be enormous. Again, a 

 north-wester during winter or summer tears the surface of the 

 water as if a harrow had passed over it, while the southerly gale 

 leaves no trace behind, save the ordinary break of the crest. 

 These are facts known to everyone who crosses the Atlantic, but 

 no satisfactory explanation of their origin has yet been given. 



I give the data from which my observations were made, in 

 order that anyone may draw his own conclusions. This ship 

 is 450 feet long on the upper deck, and the fore yard is 62 feet 

 above the level of the sea. From a position 239 feet abaft 

 the foremast, where the height of the eye was 27 feet, the crests 

 of the advancing waves at times appeared aliove the fore yard. 

 Estimated distance between the crests of the waves, two-and-a- 

 half times the ship's length. 



Cellk, Feb. 13 Wm. W. Kiddle 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

 Variable Stars. — The following are the dates of 

 maxima and miniina of variable stars occurring in April, 

 May, and June, according to the elements of Prof. 

 Schonfeld (1875), stars with shoit periods beini( omitted ; 

 unless otherwise expressed the date is that of a maximum. 

 The positions of these variables are doubtless in the hands 

 of observers generally. 



" Linea " communicates the result of his examination 

 of 2 747 on March 9 ; the magnitudes appeared to be 

 7 and 8, as in the last Greenwich Catalogue, the smaller 

 star s.p. if "Linea" refers to Astron. Nach. No. 2026, 

 he will see from the position there given by Herr Falb 

 for his new variable star, that there is] no doubt of its 

 identity with the preceding component of the above 

 double star. It is also No. 10527 in the reduced cata- 

 logue of Lalande, and No. 274 in the volume of observa- 

 tions made at the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, in 1872, 

 which has been circulated during the last week. 



Mr. Birmingham, of Millbrook, Tuam, in Astron. Nacli. 

 No. 202S, draws attention to a star of 7th magnitude in 

 Monoceros, which he appears to consider new. On Feb. 

 14, rough measures gave its position in R.A. 7h. 24m. 22s., 

 Decl. 10^4' S. ; the colour was reddish-yellow. On look- 

 ing to the sky, it is evident that the R.A. as printed is 

 nearly one minute too great, and the star is identical with 

 Lalande 14599, estimated 1797, Feb. 27, of the 6th 

 magnitude. Lalande's place brought up to the beginning 

 of the present year is R.A. 7h. 2301. 27s'i. ; N.P.D. 

 ICO" 4' 12''. The star is entered 6 on Fellocker's Berlin 

 chart, but is not found in any recent catalogue. In all 

 probability Mr. Birmingham has detected a new variable 

 star. On March 14 it was very little below the 6ih rrag- 

 nitude, and, in a hazy sky, had a deep yellow light. 



Mars and 3 Sagittarii, 1S75, June 29. — A veiy 

 close approach of this planet to the fifth magnitude st?r 

 3 Sagittarii will take place during the night of June 20 ; 



indeed, with Leverrier's place and adopted diameter of the 

 planet, the star would be occulted for a few minutes by 

 the northern part of the disc, at the Observatories of Cor- 

 doba and Santiago de Chile. The phenomenon will not 

 be visible in this country. The much-desired observation 

 of the occultation of ip Aquarii on the ist of October, 

 1672, during Richers expedition to Cayenne, was lost, 

 through a clouded sky, and from the same cause Riimker, 

 at Paramatta, -was prevented observing an occultation of 

 446 (Mayer) Leonis, on the i6th of February, 1822. 



Encke'S Comet. — Inquiries arrive from the southern 

 hemisphere with respect to the path of this comet after 

 perihelion passage. The elements determined for the 

 present year, after including the perturbations of Mercury, 

 Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, are as follows 

 according to Dr. von Asten : — 



Perihelion Passage 1875, April i3'o68i5 G. M. T. 



Longitude of perihelion 

 Ascending node 



Inclination 



Angle of excentricity 

 Mean daily motion 



.. 158 13 9 ) Equinox of 

 ■• 334 32 19 ! iS7o'o 

 ■• 13 7 17 

 .. 58 8 56 

 io79"'2209 



The editor of Asironomische Naclirichtcii having noti- 

 fied his intention of reprinting Dr. von Asten's ephemeris, 

 which extends to the middle of August, in his next 

 number, it may suffice to give here a few positions to indi- 

 cate the general track of the comet. The places are for 

 Berlin noon : — 



R.A. 



N.P.D. 



DISTANCE FROM 

 h. m. s. o , Sun. Earth. 



May 15 o 36 23 105 43-5 0-822 0-564 



,,25 08 48 no 31-4 0-995 0-580 



June 4 23 41 36 114 43-5 I'I56 0590 



,, 14 23 9 54 iiS 48-6 I '306 0-600 



,, 24 22 31 13 122 33 9 1-448 0-619 



July 4 214643 125 21-9 1-581 0659 



After Encke's comet is beyond our reach, nearly tv. o 



years will elapse before any other known comet of short 



period is visible. Neglecting perturbations, D'Arrest's 



comet would arrive at perihelion again in the middle of 



April 1877, but the circumstances would not be favourable 



for observation. 



THE TRANSIT OF VENUS 



AS -we intimated last week, news has now been received 

 more or less from all the Kerguelen parties. Details 

 of the observations of these and other patties appeared 

 in last Thursday's Times, and we shall here endeavour to 

 present the principal astronomical results. 



The weather on the island during the transport and 

 after the landing of the various parties w-as horrible ; 

 the day before the Transit was one of the most trying 

 kind, and at night the barometer was falling, and any 

 observations on the morrow seemed hopeless.' By a 

 freak of the southern skies, however, on the rnorning of 

 the 9th the sun rose without a cloud ; but a bank began 

 to form soon after sunrise. From the despatch of Capt. 

 Fairfax, of the Volas;t', we learn that at the principal 

 Enghsh station " the sky was cloudy and there was little 

 v.-ind. Venus was seen to break into the sun's disc, but 

 before the internal contact a cloud had obscured the sun. 

 Several observations and photographs of the sun were 

 taken during the forenoon, and the internal and external 

 contacts at egress were observed. At the other English 

 stations and at the American stations the contact at 

 ingress, but not at egress, was obtained. The Germans 

 got both contacts at ingress and egress. The astronomers 

 are pleased with their success." From an account of the 

 observations made by the Americans, communicated by 

 one of themselves to the Cape/own ^itandard and Mail, 

 and quoted by the Times, we learn that, all things con- 

 sidered, their success was great. 



" The pei-fection of the calculations was surprisingly wonderful. 



