SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



119 



CONDUCTED BY FRANK 



C. DENNETT. 





Position at Soon. 



Rises. Sets. 



R.A. 



Sept. h.m. h.;n. 



h.m. Dec. 



Sun ... 4. ... 5.19 a.m. ... 6.5S p.m. ...10.54 ... T 3 0' N. 



M ... 5-35 — 6 - 16 



., 11.30 ... 3 13 



24 ... 5.51 ... 5.52 



...12.6 ... o° 40' S. 



Sept. J?i5«. Souths. 



Sets. Age at Neon. 



1 



i. h,m. 



ilocn 4 ... 3.4 p.m. ... 6.32 p.m. . 



.10.0 p.m. 7 S 2: 



- ... 1.56 a.m. . 



. 9 54 a.m. 17 S 21 



- . ... 3.3 a.m. ...10.4 



. 4.46 p.m. 27 S 21 





Position at Soon. 



5. Stmt 



R.A. 



Sepc. *i. m. Diameter. 



h.m. Dec. 



: p.m. ... 4" 7 



... 12.21 ... 6° / S. 



:- j.+ ... 5" O 



... 12.19 - 6' 32' S. 



24 ... 11.33 a.m. ... 5* 



... 11.48 ... i a 3' s. 



Venus ... 4 -•■ J.28 ... 7" 3 



... S.24 ... 16 53' N - 



9-3-3 ... 6" 9 



... 9.12 ... 16 20' X. 



24 - 9-45 - 6" 6 



... 9.59 ... 13° o'N. 



Uan ... ii ... 1. 13 p.m. ... i" 9 



... 12.4S ... 4 = 39' S. 



Jupiter ... :4 ... 11.54 a.m. ...14" 1 



... 11.28 ... 4 3 33'N. 



Saturn ... 14 ... 4.1 p.m. ... 7* 4 



... 15.36 ... ij 3 25' S. 



Uramus ... 14 ... 3.58 



... 15.34 - 19° I 1 S. 



.. 6.6 a.m. ... 1" 2 



... 5.28 ... 2i J 53'N. 



Moon's Phas 



ES. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



1st Qr. ... Sept. 3 ... 1 1.3 p.m. Full 



... Sept. n ... 2.12 a.m. 



■$rd Qr 19 ... 2.51 a.m. New 



„ 26 ... 1.46 p.m. 



In perigee. September ist, 10 p.m., distant 229,200 

 miles: in apogee. September 17th. 5 a.m., distant 

 251.500 miles; and again in perigee September 

 26th. 12 p.m.. distant 226.200 miles 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon : 



Sept. 2 



z6 



y> 



Saiurn* 

 Venus* 

 Jupiter* 

 Mercury ' 

 Mars* 

 Saturn * 



10 p.m. 

 12 p.m. 

 12 p.m. 



3 a.m. 



11 p.m. 

 3 a. in 



. planet 6° 57* N' 

 ., z-'aff N> 

 ., 5==-"N- 

 .. 2'35'N- 

 ,. 5'44'N- 

 ,. 6°j6' N. 



t Daylight. 



' Below tbe horizon in England. 



OCCCLTATION AND NEAR APPROACH \ 



Dis- 



'cars. 

 h.m. 

 Tauril ... 51 ... 557 a.m... 

 - minorum 3*2 ... 1.54 a.m. ... 



A n%tc AV- A n%le 



from appears, from 



Vertex, h m. Vertex. 

 . 137°. 



M" 



h.m. 



7.2 a.m. ... 215 

 Near approach. 



The Sun has now frequently some spots on its 

 disc A fine group crossed the disc during the 

 first half of August, the large leading spot readily 

 g the presence of nuclei in its umbra. 

 These are usually more easily seen during the 

 •vben solar disturbances are at a minimum. 

 Autumn is said to commence at 7pm on 22nd, 

 when the tun enters Libra. 



lisicuBY, though an evening star until the 22nd 

 .ich it is a morning star, is not 

 d position for observation. On Septi 

 ■.*. 11 pm. Mercury it in conjunction .'.iili 

 Jupiter, wr. to the north 



a morning .tar all the month, rising at 

 a.m at the 

 . apparent 'ting as 1! 



iar form 



Saturn sets at 9.22 p.m. on ist, and 7.33 on 

 30th, so must be looked for as soon as it is dusk. 

 Its rings are very grand. 



Neptune is in Taurus, 4' south of the wonderful 

 "Crab" nebula, I. Messier, a little N.p. the 3rd- 

 magnitude star marked £. 



Meteors may be looked for September ist-2nd, 

 6th-;th, nth-i3th and 25th, especially during the 

 earlier days. 



Red Stars in position during September : 



B. 65S Cassiopeias 



R 



T 



R.A. 





h. m. 



Dec. 



=3-55 



59 41' N 



23.52 



50 43' N 



0.17 



55° 8' N 



0.3 



63° n' N 



0.13 



43 c 56' N 



Magnitude. 



Variable 



4"S<r2 Very red, variable 

 6'5-n Variable 

 8-5 

 — Andromeda? . 



Erratum. — After the declination of the last star 

 in our August list, the + (plus) mark should read 

 + plus or minus — more or less. 



D'Arrest's Comet. — This faint object was 

 picked up at the Lick Observatory by Mr. Perrine, 

 on June 29th, in the north-eastern part of Cetus 

 (R.A., 2h. im. ; Dec. N., 6 c i4'), and has since 

 been observed at Algiers and Toulouse. Its 

 diameter is said to be about 1', it is very iaint, but 

 has a very slight condensation. Its path has been 

 eastward, very slightly inclined towards the 

 equator. By the time this is in the reader's hands, 

 it will be in the southern part of Taurus, only a 

 little N.p. 44 Eridani. It has a period of 6091 

 years, and so may be expected again in 1903. 



Yerkes Observatory will be formally dedicated 

 on October ist, when it is hoped that many of the 

 scientific visitors to the meetings of the British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science 

 gathered at Toronto will be able to attend. 



A Rapid Binary Star. — In 1879, Mr. S. W. 

 Burnham, one of the most acute observers we have 

 for double stars, discovered with the iSA-in. 

 Chicago refractor, that the star marked Lalande, 

 9091 in Taurus, is a close double, 78 and 8 magni- 

 tudes, and it is now named $. 883. In the 

 " Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society " for June, Dr. I. J. J. See points out that 

 this pair are really a binary system with the 

 abnormally short period of 55 years, the shortest 

 known amongst visible doubles. 



The Thompson Photographic Telescope. — 

 Mr. Goschen, in answer to a question in the House 

 of Commons, on July 26th, stated that, as soon as 

 arrangements can be completed, the public will 

 have an opportunity of purchasing such photo- 

 graphs, taken with this instrument at Greenwich, 

 as the Astronomer Royal may deem suitable for 

 issue 



B 1LLIANT Meteor. — News is to hand of a 

 brilliant, slow-moving meteor, seen in the south of 

 Lngland about 1 , on the evening of July 30th. 

 as while, with a tinge of blue, and it 

 had a short trail. Its course was almost directly 

 on the line of the meridian. Its brilliance is said 

 bet . much above iliat of Venus when at 

 its best. It also threw off some brilliant sparks 

 Ixrfor*' i pearance. Any further details 



me. A Southampton 1 ibsi I 1 1 

 Mr S. Stainer in 1 In- "English Mechanic,' 

 n a from " a pomi .1 little 1 outh 

 of the zenith, and its path towards the south, 

 " roughly bout 33 



