i8 



NA TURE 



{Nov. 4, 1 886 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK iS86 NOVEMBER 7-13 



a70R the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 

 is here employed. ) 



At Greenwich on Noroiber 7 

 Sun rises, 7h. 6m. ; souths, nh. 43m. 49 '63. ; sets, l6h. 22m. ; 

 decl. on meridian, 16° 21' S. : Sidereal Time at Sunset, 

 igh. 29m. 

 Moon (Full on November 11) rises, 1 5h. 4m. ; souths, 2oh. 58m.; 

 sets, 3h. 2m.* ; decl. on meridian, 1° 49' S. 



Planet 



Souths 



Mercury 

 Venus ... 

 Mars ... 

 Jupiter... 

 Saturn... 



.. 10 42 ... 



... 4 55 ■•• 

 .. 20 30* ... 



* Indicates that the rising is 

 that of the following morning. 



13 " 



II 20 



14 27 

 10 19 



that 



17 O ... 

 16 14 ... 



18 12 ... 



15 43 ••• 

 ;2 ... 12 34 ... 



f the preceding evening 



23 59 S. 

 13 25 S. 



24 27 S. 

 7 43 S. 



21 18 N. 



Occultations of Stars hy the Moon (visible at Greenwich) 



Corresfonding 



Star Mag. Disap. Reap. ^"^'"riglJJ fo'; 



inverted image 



7 ■•• 4 Ceti 6 ... 17 45 ... iS 32 ... 32 321 



7 ... 5 Ceti 6 ... 18 o ... 19 I ... 48 311 



7 ... B.A.C. 5 6 ... 18 23 ... 19 42 ... 89 2S1 



9 ... v Piscium 4i ... 18 4 ... 19 9 ... 60 277 



12 ... 48 Tauii 6 ... 19 iS .. 20 18 ... 61 251 



12 ... 7 Tauri 4 ... 21 17 ... 22 25 ... 55 271 



13 ... 75 Tauri 6 ... 2 38 ... 3 37 ... 162 275 



13 ... e| Tauri 4i ... 2 46 ... 3 57 ... 62 17 



13 ... 6" Tauri 4^ ... 3 6 near approach 39 — 



13 ... B.A.C. 1391 ... 5- ... 3 39 ... 4 46 ... IIS 332 



13 ... Aldebaran ... i ... 6 27 ... 7 16 ... 165 284 



Saturn, Nov. 7. — Outer major axis of outer ring = 43" '5 ; 

 outer minor axis of outer ring = l6"'8 ; southern surface visible. 



Nov. h. 



13 ... 17 ... Mercury at greatest elongation from tlie Sun, 

 22' east. 



M 

 3 49 "' 

 3 29 III 

 3 56 m 



M 

 3 S3 '« 

 3 37 »' 



Meteor Shoivers 

 A radiant near S Hydrje, R.A. 124°, Decl. 4° N., and one in 

 Camelopardus, R.A. 102°, Decl. 73° N., are active in the early 

 part of this week. Moonlight interferes with meteor observation 

 during the greater part of the week. 



THE HIGH TEMPERATURE IN OCTOBER 

 T^HE warm weather which occurred at the commencement of 

 ■*• the month was so exceptional for the season, and extended 

 over so large a part of Europe, that a few facts as to its general 

 character may be of interest, and will afford opportunity of com- 

 parison with earlier records, as well as with records of any 

 similar weather in time to come. 



The higliest temperatures were experienced during the first 

 five days of the month, and were chiefly confined to Western, 

 Central, and Southern Europe. During this time atmospheric 



pressure was generally high over Central Europe, and decreased 

 towards the western or .\tlantic coasts, so that the conditions of 

 pressure were favourable to anticyclonic circulation over France 

 and the south-east of England, and cyclonic circulation in Ireland 

 and the northern parts of the British Islands. The barometric 

 gradients were very slight over the Continent, but were rather 

 steeper over Great Britain and Ireland, owing to the proximity 

 of a barometric depression to the westward. This distribution 

 of pressure was accompanied by southerly and south-easterly 

 winds over Western Europe, and especially over France and our 

 own islands, but it was only in Ireland and the more western 

 parts of Great Britain that the wind was at all fresh. 



.\t this season of the year our warmest weather in England is 

 commonly experienced with south-easterly wind^, as is well 

 shown in the valuable discussion of the Greenwich observations 

 for the years 1849 to 1868, in which the temperatures have been 

 averaged for the several wind directions. The following are the 

 temperatures for October : — 



N. 

 Monthly means 47 

 Highest hourly \ 



means J ■'"' 



The same discussion also shows the striking difference which 

 exists, in October, between the temperature with a cloudless and 

 a cloudy sky : — 



Mean Mean max. Mean min. 



Cloudless sky ... 50-8 ... 6i-t ... 43'5 

 Cloudy sky Sr8 ... 54-8 ... 498 



The high temperatures experienced over England in October 

 this year occurred with an exceptionally clear sky, as well as 

 with a remarliably steady south-easterly wind, and the air before 

 reaching England had been subjected to very similar conditions 

 on the continent of Europe. 



The following table gives the maxiiiiuin day temperatures at 

 twenty stations selected from the Daily Wea'her Report of the 

 Meteorological Offi:e and from the Paris Bn'.lctin Inlc nationil 

 for the first five days of October :— 



Staijn Day I 2345 M;in 



British 

 Islands 



Belgium- 

 Austria- 

 Spain 

 and 



Portugal 



Italy 



York 



Greenwich 



Parsonstown (Ireland) 



r Dunkirk 



Cherbourg 



^ Paris 



Fiance ,.7 . 



Nantes 



Biarritz 



I Nice 



( Hamburg 



Germany < Berlin 



( Carlsruhe 



—Brussels 



—Vienna 



Barcelona 



Madrid 



Lisbon 



Turin 



Rome 



Palermo (.Sicily) 



Mean ... 73 72 73 75 72 



The stations have been selected as representative of Western, 

 Centi-al, and Southern Europe, and the table shows well the 

 area over which the warm weather extended. 



The more northern jxtrts of Europe did not experience any 

 exceptional heat, the highest temperature at Copenhagen being 

 63', and at Stockholm 61'. The more western parts were also 

 but little aft'ected : in Ireland the highest maximum was 66' at 

 Parsonstown on the Sth, and at no other station w.as the tem- 

 perature above 65°. In Scotland the temperature did not reach 

 70". 



The Greenwich observations from 1S41 show that a higher 

 temperature has only once been registered in October, viz. 81" 

 on the 4th in 1859; but the daily mean, which was 67°-i on 

 the 4th this year, is higher than any previously recorded. 



The observations which were made in the apartments of the 

 Royal Society from the year 1794, excepting the years 181 1 to 

 1819, do not show so high a reading between 1794 and 1S40. 

 At Kew Observatory the highest temperature recorded was 77' 



