156 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



An American astronomer finally ascertained that the number of the rings must be 

 increased many fold. Next followed the discovery of the transparent ring in 1852. 

 Then this ring was found to be multiple. It is now known that the divisions in 

 the various rings are subject to change, and that the whole system is probably in- 

 creasing in breadth and approaching the planet. Of what, then, are these rings 

 composed ? The more plausible theory is that they are composed of myriads of 

 satellites or small bodies, moving each in its own orbit round the planet, causing 

 the appearance of a bright ring where they are close together, and a faint one where 

 more scattered. This theory accounts for the varying brightness of its different 

 parts, and its haziness near the planet. 



Uranus will be in the constellation Leo. On the i8th it is 12° 30' east and 

 4° 30' south of Regulus, the brightest star in this constellation. Its apparent 

 diameter on the ist is 3.58" and on the 31st 3.50". 



Neptune on the 15th will be in the constellation Aries, in Right Ascension 

 2 hours 57 minutes, and Declination 15° i' north.. This position is nearly correct 

 for the entire month. 



The Moon on the ist will be in conjunction with Uranus. On the morning 

 of the 20th it will pass north of Jupiter, Mars and Neptune, about 3° 30'. 



CABLING OF ASTRONOMICAL INTELLIGENCE. 



The question of transmission of astronomical announcements and intelhgence 

 has recently caused a considerable amount of discussion among European astro- 

 nomical societies, the members of which had come to the conclusion that the 

 system formerly in use was unreliable and the cause of much trouble to the pos- 

 sessors of large telescopes, which require tolerably exact positions to easily obtain 

 good results. So much trouble has there been on this account, that the possessors 

 of large instruments, as a rule, do not care to attempt to observe comets unless a 

 finding ephemeris can be prepared for their use, and to facilitate their observa- 

 tions, it has been the custom for some time, in Germany, England and this 

 country, to circulate these data by mail so soon as they can be prepared. 



It has often so happened that the prevalence of storms, or the immediate fol- 

 lowing of the discovery of the comet by a bright and increasing moonlight, has 

 caused the total loss of a comet, so far as observations are concerned, while con- 

 fusion and annoyance were of quite frequent occurrence. 



With the idea of adopting a system of announcement of astronomical dis- 

 covery and data, which should be as free as possible from error of any kind, a 

 correspondence was last year maintained among European astronomers, and a 

 system was decided upon which seemed reasonably free from possible error. By 

 this system the name of the discoverer of a comet, date, position of it, and motion, 

 were to be comprised in a cable message of sixteen or eighteen words. Nothing 

 was attempted in the way of transmitting further intelligence, and the liability of 



