SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



23 



CONDUCTED BY FRANK C. DENNETT. 



Position at Noon. 

 Rises. Sets. R.A. 



June. .'i.».. h.v. h.m. Dec. 



Sun ... 6 ... 347 ajn. ... S.io p.m. ... 4.59 ... 22 43' N. 

 16 ... 3-44 ... S.17 ... 5.41 ... 23° 23' 



26 ... 346 ... S.19 ... 6.22 ... 23 21' 



Rises. Souths. Sets. 



Moon ... 6 ... 9.34 a.m. ... 4.51p.m. ...it. 50 p.m. 

 .. eo.ii p.m. ... 1. 12 a.m. ... 4.56a.m. 

 26 ... 0.41 a.m. ... 9.0 ... 5.33 p.m. 



Position at Noon. 

 Souths. Semi R.A . 



h. m. Diameter. h.m. Dec. 



Mercury. .. 6 ... 1040 a.m. ... 5" o ... 3.40 ... 15° 25' N. 



16 ... 10.25 ••• 4* ■•■ 4-5 ■•■ J 7 3 2I ' 



26 ... 10.3S ... 3" 2 ... 4.5S ... 20 55' 



5 ... 6 ... 9.16 18*2 ... 2.16 ... II 19' N. 



16 ... 9.2 ...15' 6 ... 2.42 ... 12° 37' 



26 ... S.54 ...13" 6 - 314 ... 14° 32' 



Mars ... 6 ... 334 p.m. ... 2" 3 ... 8.55 ... iS c 52' N. 



16 ... 3.38 ... 2" 2 ... 9.19 ... 17° 4' 



26 ... 3.22 ... 2" 2 ... 942 ... 15° 7' 



Jupiter ... 16 ... 444 ...15" 9 ... 10.25 ••■ 'I 8' N. 



Saturn ... 16 ... 9.53 ... 8- 5 ... 15.35 ... '6° 58' S. 



Uranus ... ;6 ... 9.52 ... I" 9 ... 15.34 ... x 9° 48' S. 



... 6 ... 0.15 ... i - 2 ... 5.16 ... 21° 44' N. 



Moon's Phases. 



h.m. h.m. 



1st Qr. ...June 3... 7.2 a.m. Full ... June 14 ... 9.1 p.m. 



ydQr 21 ... 11.24 p.m. New ... „ 30 ... 2.55 a.m. 



In perigee, or nearest the earth, the distance 

 being only 223,400 miles, on June 13th, 4 p.m. 

 When farthest from the earth, or in apogee, on 

 25th, at 10 p.m., the distance will be 252,100 miles. 



Occultations. — June 14th. the variable star X* 



Saggittarii, 4th- to oth-magnitude, will disappear at 



11.14 p.m. 105 from the vertex, the highest point 



of the moon's limb above the horizon. The angle 



is reckoned towards the east, and continued up to 



The star re-appears at 0.27 a.m. on 15th, 



rom vertex. 



June 16th, <r Saggittarii, 23 magnitude, disappears 



at co a.m., 140 from vertex, and reappears at 



from vertex. 



' Primed in error X in our May number (vol. iii., p. 337), 

 by my oversight. 



Conjunctions op Planets with the Moon : 



June 5 ... " : a.m. ... planel 



7 ... Jupiler" 7 .1 111 3 43' N. 



13 ... Saturn* ... 3 a 111 7°I5'N. 



16 ... Venn g'38' s. 



28 ... Mercury" ... 1 p.m. ... , j° 11' s. 



• DayllKbl. t Below horizon in England. 



Sux —Spots of considerable size occasionally 

 make their appearance. No spots were noled 

 with a small instrument from April 22nd to 28th, 

 but on the next day a large spot ha/1 come round 

 the limb, and some tiny pores appeared a little 

 of the middle of the 



b erved in the early morning 

 in the I the month, reaching 



■■ loth, 

 • ri»c» vjmc 55 minutes before the sun. Ii 

 ■ time after sun 

 smoky 



optical aid It is unfortunate that on 29th 

 be bright daylight -a hen Mercury is in conjun 



with Neptune, only 13' — less than half the diameter 

 of the moon — separating the two planets. 



Venus may be observed as a morning star all the 

 month, rising ih. 25m. before the sun on June 1st, 

 and 2h. 21m. before sunrise on June 30th. It 

 reaches the greatest brilliancy about midnight on 

 June 3rd. Her path lies in a very barren region 

 of the constellations Aries and Taurus. 



Mars sets j'ust after midnight on 1st and about 

 10.34 on June 30th, but he only presents a very 

 tiny disc. 



Jupiter is fast sinking towards the west, setting 

 about half-an-hour after midnight at the beginning 

 of the month, and j'ust before eleven at the end. 

 His surface, however, presents a noble sight, even 

 with comparatively small instruments. 



Saturn is in good position all the month, and 

 presents a splendid sight. On June 14th the 

 major axis of his outer ring subtends an angle of 

 42'57" ; whilst the minor axis is 1708", just greater 

 than the diameter of Saturn. At 8 p.m. on 18th, 

 Saturn is in conjunction with Uranus, which is 

 situated 2° 3' to the south. Saturn is in Libra, 

 not far from the 4th-magnitude star tj. 



Uranus is in good position, but suffers even 

 more than Saturn from its great south declination. 



Neptune being in conjunction with the sun at 

 5 p.m. on 10th, is quite out of the reach of the 

 observer. 



Meteors should be specially looked for on June 

 6th and 7th, but also about 22nd, 29th and 30th. 



Red Stars are some of the most remarkable 

 objects in the star depths. They vary in colour 

 from a reddish tint to a deep blood-red. Many of 

 them are variable in magnitude, and some in 

 colour. They present, too, a spectrum peculiar to 

 themselves, the dark lines being grouped in such a 

 manner as to present the appearance of what is 

 known as being fluted. The spectroscope fitted to 

 a telescope so small as three inches aperture will 

 show this. We will reserve until next month our 

 first list of these objects. 



The November Meteors. — In April, 1867, the 

 late Professor J. C. Adams' paper, "On the Orbit 

 of the November Meteors" was published, and 

 had become scarce ; but the Royal Astronomical 

 Society have just re-issued it in their Monthly 

 Notices for March. It should prove welcome in 

 view of the expected return of the Leonids in 

 about three years. 



Dr. Karl LSoiilin, of Upsala, succeeds the late 

 Professor Gylden as Astronomer to the Royal 

 Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, and Director 

 of the Observatory. 



Rotation Period of Venus, was the subject 

 which took up a great part of the time at the last 

 meeting of the British Astronomical Society, at 

 Essex Hall, Strand, W.C., which may probably 

 prove the new quarters for the meetings of that 

 society. The satisfactory proof of the true rota- 

 tion period is seemingly very slow in being worked 

 out. 



Tin'. New Observatory ion London. — 

 Progress seems to have been made with this institu- 

 tion, for at the meeting above referred to it was 

 aiiiioiini i-d 1 li;ii ilie liirectorof the Solar Section, 



A Brown, bad given /50 towards the expenses, 

 whilst the President, Mr. Nathaniel E Green, had 

 offered sen-Inch llvi la ri fleeting 



il '','11] and Mi I 



flerecl optii al aid. 



