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SCIENCE 



[Vol. XIX. No. 47b 



SCIENCE: 



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 york. 



THE NEW STAR IN AURIGA. 



On Feb. 2 of the preseat year Professor Copeland of the 

 Edinburgh Observatory received aa anonymous postal card 

 upon which was written the following: "Nora in Auriga, 

 in Milky Way, about two degrees south of Chi Aurigae, pre- 

 ceding 26 Aurigae; fifth magnitude, slightly brighter than 

 Chi," 



In No. 1,164 of Nature the discoverer of the new star es- 

 tablishes his identity by a short notice of the manner in 

 which he found the Nora. His name is Thomas D. Ander- 

 son, and he lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. The following is 

 an abbreviation of his statement : — 



"It (the star) was visible as a star of the fifth magnitude 

 for two or three days, very probably even for a week, before 

 Professor Copeland received my postal card. I am almost 

 certain that at two o'clock on the morning of Sunday, Jan- 

 uary 24, I saw a fifth magnitude star making a large ob- 

 tuse angle with Beta Tauri and Chi Aurigas, and I am posi- 

 tive that I saw it at least twice subsequently during that 

 week. Unfortunately, I mistook it on each occasion for 26 

 Aurigae, merely remarking to myself that 26 was a much 

 brighter star than I used to think it. It was only on the 

 morning of Sunday, the 3Ist of January, that I satisfied my- 

 self tliat it was a strange body." 



Mr. Anderson then, in a frank manner, speaks of his 

 knowledge of astronomy and the instrumental means at his 

 disposal Of the former he says, it is of meagrest descrip- 

 tion, while the latter consist of a pocket telescope and a 

 copy of Klein's "Star Atlas." 



Since discovery the new star has been very generally ob- 

 served at all the prominent observatories ia Europe and 

 America. The telegram announcing the discovery was re- 

 ceived at ihe Naval Observatory on the afternoon of February 

 6. I observed tbe star the same evening with our 4-inch 

 comet-seeker. To me it then appeared about half a magni- 

 tude brighter than Chi, and was of a dark straw color. 

 Using a low power eye-piece, I could bring both Chi and the 



new star into the field at the same time. With the meridian 

 transit 1 observed the star for its Right Ascension, and Pro- 

 fessor Frisby, with the 9-inch equatorial, determined its 

 declination. The large transit circle is now dismountedj 

 undergoing repairs prior to its removal to the new Observa- 

 tory. The place of the star for 1892.0 is, R. A. 5 h. 25 m. 3.4 

 s. ; Dec. +30° 21' 41.0". The magnitude was 4.6. 



Professor Copeland, upon examining the star with a prism 

 between the eye and the eye-piece of the 24 inch reflector, 

 observed that it seemed to possess a spectrum very much 

 like that of the Nora of 1886, the recognized variable, named 

 Tau Coronae. 



The star was photographed at Harvard College Observa- 

 tory on Dec. 1, 10, and 20, two months before it was known 

 to be a new star. This came about by Prosessor Pickering 

 and his assistants photographing the region of the sky in 

 which the Nora is located in the course of the photographic 

 mapping of the stars and their spectra now being carried on 

 at Harvard College Observatory. On the 1st of December, 

 1891, the Nora was faint, on December 10 brighti and on 

 the 20th maximum. Spectrum unique. The above is a 

 statement given out by Professor Pickering. 



From No. 3,076 of the Astronomische Nachrichten we 

 glean the following interesting points relative to the new 

 star. ,At Bonn, Feb. 2, Professor Kustner made a careful 

 comparison of the magnitude of the Nora with three neigh- 

 boring stars. He estimated it as half a magnitude fainter 

 than Chi, little, if any, brighter than 14 Aurigae, and de- 

 cidedly brighter than 26 Aurigae, the resulting magnitude 

 being 5.5. 



The region of the sky in which the new star is located was 

 examined for the Bonn Durchmusterung by Schonfeld, March 

 26, 1856, and Kreuger, Feb. 16, 1857; also again by Kreuger 

 in the revision-zone, March 23, 1858, on which date he ob- 

 served a star of the 9.5 magnitude distant from the place of 

 the new star 2.5s. and 0.8'. This faint star has, however, 

 been observed anew at Bonn and Hamburg. 



At Upsala on Feb. 2 its magnitude was estimated as 5.5, 

 and its color as yellow. On observing its spectrum a very 

 bright line was seen at the red end, and another in the blue- 

 green. On Feb. 3 the star was almost as bright as Chi, but 

 the next night it was fainter. 



At Kiel, Mr. Kroeger observed the spectrum on Feb. 2. 

 It was brilliant and visible throughout all the colors from 

 the red far into the violet. A broad, black band was seen 

 near C. In the red and orange there were three groups of 

 lines, separated by equal intervals and of nearly equal width 

 and intensity, all wide, but faint. 



Mr. Yendell, living near Boston and an expert in variable 

 star observing, is authority for the statement that between 

 Feb. 9 and 22 the star appeared to him of a bluish white 

 color with no tinge of red. This observation of the color of the 

 star is directly opposite to that reported by the English and 

 German observers, and also that of mine made on several o■.•- 

 casions. The star has each time that I have observed it, ten 

 or twelve times, always appeared to me of a dark straw color. 

 I have observed it with two instruments, the 4 inch comet- 

 seeker and the meridian transit. Mr. Lockyer, the English 

 spectroscopist, has secured several photographs of the spec- 

 trum. He estimated the color of the star as reddish with a 

 purple tinge. Mr. Fowler, one of bis assistants, estimates it 

 as reddish yellow; while another, Mr. Baxaiidall, estimates 

 it as purplish. 



Mr. Lockyer, commenting upon the photographs taken on 

 Feb. 7, says, "The bright lines K, H, h, and G are accom- 



