SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



*33 







Rises. 



Sets. 



Posit 101 



at Noon. 







h.m. 



h.m. 



R.A. 



Dec. 





1895. 



A.M. 



P.M. 



h.m. 





Sun 



July 1 



• •■ 3-49 



.. 8.18 .. 



. 6.41 ... 



23° 8'N 





,. 11 



.» 3-57 



.. 8.13 • 



. 7-22 ... 



22° 7' 





11 21 



... 4.9 

 Souths. 



P.M. 



.. 8.3 . 

 Sets. 



P.M. 



. 8.2 ... 



20° 29' 



Moon 



n 1 



... 7-39 

 Rises. 



P.M. 



.. 12.3 



Souths. 



A.M. 









„ 8 



... 9-38 ■ 



.. I.46 









.. 15 



... IO.59 



Soutlis 



A.M. 



■ ■ 6.35 



Sets. 



P.M. 









>, 22 



... 12.26 



Rises. 



A.M. 



.. 8.38 



Souths. 



A.M. 







Mercury... 



,, 10 



... 3.20 



.. 11.5 . 



. 6.23 ... 



1 8° 43' N 





20 



... 2.46 



.. 10.41 . 



■ 6-34 •• 



20° 23' 





.. 3° 



... 2.51 



Souths 



P.M. 



.. 10.55 ■ 



. Sets. 



P.M. 



. 7-24 ... 



2I C 38' 



Venus ... 



,, 10 



... 3.IO 



... 10.10 . 



. 10.23 •• 



io° 55' N 





„ 20 



■■• 3-3 



... 9.40 . 



. 10.56 .. 



6° 33' 





„ 30 



... 2.52 



- 9-7 ■ 



. 11.24 ■■ 



2° 12' 



Mars 



i) 10 



... 2.12 



... 9.43 • 



• 9-25 •• 



1 6° 28' N 





,. 20 



... 1.57 



.. 9.16 . 



. 9.49 ... 



14° 24' 





,. 3° 



... 1.42 



... 8.49 • 



. 10.13 •• 



12° II' 



Jupiter ... 



,, 9 



... 0.8 

 Rises. 



A.M. 



.. 8.18 . 

 Sotiths. 



A.M. 



• 7-i7 ■■ 



22° 26' N 





.. 23 



... 3.20 

 Souths. 



P.M. 



.. 11.27 • 



Sets. 



P.M. 



. 7-30 ... 



22° I 1 



Saturn ... 



,, 9 



... 6.48 



.. 12.7 



• 13-57 - 



9° 20' S 





» 23 



■■• 5-53 



.. 11. 8 . 



. 13.58 .. 



9° 29' 



Uranus ... 



„ 30 



... 6.21 

 Rises. 



A.M. 



... 10.59 • 

 Souths. 



A.M. 



• 14-54 » 



1 6° 1 7" S 



Neptune ... 



» 3° 



... 0.28 



Moon's 



.. 8.3I . 



Phases 



- 5-5 •■• 



21° 26' N 



Full ... Jul> 



6 ... 11 



29 p.m. 



is* Qr. ... 



Julv 14 



. 3.31 a.m 



New ... ,, 



21 ... 5 



32 a.m. 



Last Qr.... 



„ ' 28 . 



. 8.36 p.m 



There will be a large shower of meteors on July 

 28th, the radiant point being a 339° 8 — 12 . 



The " Scientific American," of June 15th, prints 

 a drawing of a number of sun spots, observed 

 through a three-inch telescope at Springfield, 

 Mass., on May 19th. The two larger spots are 

 very typical. 



Garrett P. Serviss is writing a series of popular 

 articles on the "Pleasures of the Telescope" for 

 the " Popular Science Monthly," of New York. In 

 the June number appears his fifth, entitled, " In 

 Summer Star-Lands." It is illustrated by three 

 maps. 



Lord Rosse delivered a lecture at the Royal 

 Institution, on May 31st, on the radiant heat from 

 the moon during the progress of an eclipse. 

 Speaking of the heat given off, he said that in the 

 total eclipse of January, 1888, he had found there 

 was a great decrease in its amount some time 

 before the first contact. During the total phase 

 the heat radiated was a mere trifle, and it had not 

 regained more than eighty per cent, at full moon, 

 an hour and a half after the first contact. 



We understand that Professor E. E. Barnard 

 and Professor Burnham have been appointed to 

 posts in the new Yerkes Observatory, at Lake 

 Geneva, some seventy miles from Chicago. 



The death is announced of Theodor Brorsen, 

 aged seventy-six. He discovered in all five comets, 

 one with a period of about five and a half years, 

 which bears his name, was discovered by him in 

 1846. It duly returned for four periods up to 1879, 

 but has not been found since that visit. 



Mercury will be at its greatest elongation, west, 

 on July 22nd, and Venus at its greatest eastern 

 elongation on the nth. Jupiter is too near the 

 Sun for observation ; he will be in conjunction on 

 the 10th. Both Saturn and Uranus are getting 

 very low in the west by the time it is dark, and 

 Neptune does not rise till about midnight. 



Dr. Percival Lowell is making ready for an 

 astronomical campaign in December, 1896, when 

 the next opposition of Mars will take place. He 

 intends to mount a new telescope of twenty-four 

 inches aperture at some favourable place in Mexico 

 or else in Africa. It will be remembered that a 

 short time ago Dr. Lowell set up an eighteen-inch 

 telescope at Flagstaff, Arizona. 



The British Astronomical Association has now- 

 published the long-promised Report of the Section 

 tor the observation of Mars. In the chart accom- 

 panying the report have been combined together, 

 so far as possible, the results expressed in the entire 

 set of eighty drawings which the members of the 

 Section supplied. Mr. E. Walter Maunder was 

 the director of the Section. 



During a thunderstorm, on June 19th last, 

 the Observatory on the summit of Ben Nevis in 



Scotland, was struck by lightning which damaged 

 a telegraph instrument and set fire to the wood and 

 felt lining of the building. The flames were 

 fortunately subdued by the staff and visitors 

 sheltering at the time, before any serious damage 

 occurred. A feature of the storm was that it was 

 accompanied by a thick fall of snow and a reduction 

 of temperature of the air to freezing point. - 



In the " Scientific American " for June 1st, Sir 

 Robert Ball, F.R.S., contributes a long and inter- 

 esting article entitled " The Moon's Story." He 

 treats his subject from the point of view of the 

 Moon's influence on the tides. The story is told 

 with that facility so characteristic of Sir Robert 

 Ball, and which has won for him so many admirers. 

 He reminds his readers of the greater rapidity with 

 which the earth formerly turned on its axis, and 

 the consequently more frequent tides than now. 

 This leads up to their effect on the physical 

 appearance of the earth's surface. 



The great forty-inch lens for the Yerkes telescope 

 has been completed by Mr. A. E Clark. This mag- 

 nificent telescope is the largest in the world, and 

 eclipses all, not only in size, but in focal range and 

 power. The lens alone, when it came from Pari- m 

 the rough, cost /S.ooo, and since then an enormous 

 cost has been incurred by the grinding and polishing 

 of the lens, which have been going on for two 

 years. The preliminary tests have been carried out 

 by Professor T. J. Lee, who states that the stars 

 came out through it with startling brilliance and 

 clearness, the division between the rings of Saturn 

 was plainly visible, and the satellites shone forth 

 like little moons in the midnight sky. 



