SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Moon 





Rises. 



Sets. 



Position 



at Noon. 





h.m. 



h.m. 



R.A. 



Dec. 



1895. 



A.M. 



1>.M 



h.m. 





Mar. 1 



... 6 48 . 



• 5-37 •• 



224') •■• 



7° 34' S. 



.. 10 



... 6.28 . 



• 5-53 •• 



23.22 ... 



4° 5' 



11 20 



,< 1 



... 6.5 . 



Souths. 

 P.M. 



• •• 3-33 • ■ 



. 6.10 .. 

 Sets. 



P.M. 



. 11.25 

 A.M. 



. 23.59 ••• 



o° 9' 



„ 8 



... 10.16 . 

 Rises. 



P.M. 



. 60 



Souths. 



A.M. 







» 15 



... 12.35 • 



A.M. 



. 4.18 







,, 



... 5 18 • 



Rises 



A.M. 



. 10.6 

 Souths. 



A.M. 







2 



- 5-59 • 



.. 11.22 . 



. 22.8 .. 



8° 3' S. 



,, 12 



... 5-3i • 



.. 10.37 . 



• 21.59 ... 



ii° 16' 





... 519 • 



Souths. 



P M. 



.. 10.26 . 

 Sets. 



P.M. 



. 22.25 ... 



ii° 2' 



2 



... t-34. 



.. 740 . 



. 0.15 .. 



o° 26' N. 



.1 I2 



... 140 



.. 8.12 . 



. 1.0 .. 



5° 36' 



,, 22 



... 146 . 



P.M. 



. 8.44 . 



A.M. 



• 145 ••• 



io Q 34' 



>> 2 



... 5. II 



.. i.15 • 



• 3-5i •• 



21° 44' N 



,, 12 



... 4 55 • 



i-7 



• 4-15 •• 



22° 51' 



11 22 



... 4.41 . 



.. 1.0 



. 440 ... 



23° 45' . 



,1 2 



... 7-3 • 



• • 3 '9 • 



• 544 •■ 



23 21' N. 



„ 22 



• •■ 5-5° . 

 Rises. 



P.M. 



.. 2.6 . 



Souths. 



A.M. 



• 5 50 .. 



23 25' 



2 



... IO.34 • 



.. 3-39 . 



. 14-22 .. 



n° 24' S. 



<i 22 



... 9.II . 



.. 2.18 . 



. 14.19 ... 



ii° 4' 





... n-55 

 Souths. 



.. 4 27 . 

 Sets. 



. 15 10 .. 



17 2 + » S. 



11 2 



... 6.6 . 



Moon's 



. 2.6 . 



Phases. 



. 447 ••• 



20 55' N. 



ar. 4 .. 



0.40 p. m 



Full .. 



Mar. 10 . 



.. 3.38 a.m. 



,, 17 •• 



5.32 am 



New .. 



,. 25. 



.10.25 a.m. 



Mercury. 



Venus 



Mars 

 Jupiter ... 



Saturn ... 

 Uranus .. 

 Neptune ... 



1st (jr. ... 

 Last Qr.... 



A total eclipse of the Moon will take place on 

 March nth, visible at Greenwich; first contact 

 with shadow, 1.54. a.m. ; beginning of total phase, 

 2.52. a.m. ; end of total phase, 4. 27. a.m. ; last 

 contact with shadow, 5.24. a.m. 



There will be a partial eclipse of the Sun on 

 March 26th, but it will be practically invisible at 

 Greenwich, as the magnitude of the eclipse, as seen 

 there, will be only 013. 



William Wesley and Son, Essex Street, 

 London, have issued a small selection and guide to 

 astronomical works, which is issued free to their 

 customers. It will be found useful to those be- 

 ginning to take interest in astronomy. 



New Form of Telescope. — At the last meeting 

 of the Royal Astronomical Society, Dr. Common 

 made the important announcement that he had 

 succeeded in constructing a new form of reflecting 

 telescope, with eminently satisfactory results. 



The Nature of Comets. — Professor Lewis 

 Boss, Director of Rochester Observatory, U.S., is 

 of opinion that comets are the result of an electri- 

 cal action in the surrounding nebulous matter, 

 similar to that which produces the Aurora Borealis. 

 He further inclines to the hypothesis that the tail 

 of the comet is the result of an electro-magnetic 

 action repulsive to the sun and the nebulous 

 matter. 



At a recent meeting of the Chicago Academy of 

 Sciences, Dr. T. J. J. Sec discussed the theory of 

 the heat of the Sun. He considers the age of the 

 solar system is more than 100,000,000 year.-., and 

 regards Lord Kelvin's estimate as a fair approxi- 

 mation. 



Encke's Comet has recently been a very brilliant 

 object, and was quite visible to the naked eye. 

 Viewed with a low power it had apparently a 

 sharply-defined stellar nucleus. It will not be 

 again well-placed in the northern hemisphere, but 

 it is hoped that southern observers will be able to 

 take some observations. 



Mr. W. W. Campbell, of the Mount Hamilton 

 Observatory, has been discussing the atmosphere 

 of the planet Mars, which is generally considered 

 to be similar to our own. He points out that by 

 availing himself of the opportunity for this research, 

 when Mars and the Moon are at equal altitudes, an 

 observer saw one strong line on the planet's 

 spectrum which was absent from that of the Moon. 

 So when passing behind the atmosphere of the 

 Moon, that of Mars might be measured. 



The " Astrophysical Journal" is a new inter- 

 national review of spectroscopy and astronomical 

 physics issued by the University of Chicago ; 

 W. Wesley and Son, of Essex Street, London, 

 being the English agents. No. 1 appeared in 

 January, and the annual subscription is eighteen 

 shillings. It is a quarto journal of one hundred 

 pages, produced in the admirable manner in which 

 the publishers of magazines in the United States 

 seem to excel beyond the rest of the world. The 

 full-page photographic reproductions include : plate 

 i., taken June 29th, 1892, nh. 40m. — 15b. 4m., 

 Pacific standard time, by E. E. Barnard, with the 

 six-inch Wellard lens of the Lick Observatory, of 

 the stella region near Messier ii ; plate ii. is a 

 similar photograph taken October, 20th, 1892, near 

 Chi Cygni ; plate iii., three photographs of the 

 variable star, O.A. 16, 121, and its spectrum, taken 

 at Areguipa, Peru ; plate iv., five drawings of 

 Mars, made in May and June, 1S94, with the 

 Melbourne four-foot reflector. These photographs 

 are beautifully reproduced. The journal " Astro- 

 nomy and Astro-Physics " has been purchased by 

 the University of Chicago, and this new journal is 

 practically a continuation of it in a somewhat 

 altered form. 



The editors of the " Astrophysical Journal " are 

 George E. Hale, Director of the Yerkes Observatory, 

 and James E. Keeler, with a large staff of assistant 

 and associate editors. It is the outcome of a long- 

 cherished idea of Mr. Hale, and the result of a 

 meeting held in New York on November 2nd, 1894 

 such meetings will beheld annually, and be confined 

 to the Board of Editors. 



The most important paper in the January 

 " Astrophysical Journal " is one on " The Modern 

 Spectroscope " by F. L. O. Wadsworth, of the 

 University of Chicago, extending to twenty-seven 

 pages, illustrated by a plate (v.). It is a general 

 consideration of the design of astronomical spectro- 

 scopes. A short paper by Edward C. Pickering, 

 of the Harvard College Observatory, on " The 

 Discovery of Variable Stars from their Photographic 

 Spectra " is illustrated by plate iii. above referred 

 to. By the system of spectroscopic photography 

 of many thousands of stars, annually carried out at 

 Harvard, Mrs. Plemming has, during the past five 

 years, discovered thirty-four new variable stars, and 

 has shown that sixty-five known variables have 

 a similar spectrum. The variation has been 

 confirmed bv Mr. Pickering in every case. 



