SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



267 



ASTRONOMY, 



CONDUCTED BY FRANK C 



. DENNETT. 





Position at Soon. 



1898. Rises. Sets. 



R.A. 



Feb. h.m. h.m. 



h.m. Dec. 



Sum ... 1 ... 7^0 a.m. ... 4.4S p.m 



. ...21. 1 ... 17° 0' S. 



11 ... 7--- — 5-6 



...21.41 ... 13" 55' 



U ... 7-3 ■ S-=5 



...22.19 -- IO ° 2 ^' 



Rises. Souths. 



Sets. Age at Sec::, 



Feb. A.m. 



h.m. it. h.m. 



Jfoon i ... 11.52 a.m. ... 8.20 pja. ... 



4.15 a.m. 10 4 55 



11 ... 11.26 p.m. ... . 24 a.m. ... 



830 20 4 35 



21 ... 659 a.m. ... o^: p.m. .. 



6.41 p.m. 16 19 





Position at Soon. 



Souths. Semi 



R.A. 



Feb. h. m. Diameter. 



h.m. Dec. 



itetiur}... 1 .*.. 10.50 a.m. ... 



... 19.17 ... 21° 48' S. 



11 ... 1045 ... 2" 8 



... 20.12 ... 20° 57* 



21 ... II.7 ... 2" 6 



... 21.13 ». 18° 1' 



Venus ... 1 ... 0.1 p.m. ... 4" 9 



... 20.JS ... 19 1' S. 



11 ... O.I2 ... 4' 9 



... 21.38 ... 15 30' 



21 ... 0.21 ... 4" 9 



... 22.27 ... ii° 16' 



Wjtj ... 11 ... 10.46 a.m. ... 2" 



... 20.12 ... 20 c 5S' S. 



luptfer ... 1 ... 3.54 ...iS* S 



... 12. JO ... 2° 42' S. 



11 ... 3"»3 —19" 3 



... 12-58 ... 2° 30' 



21 ... 232 ...19" 7 



... 12 36 ... 2° II' 



Saturn ... ii ... 7.X4 ... 7" 5 



... 16.59 ••• -°° 31' S. 



L'ranus ... 1 1 ... 6.40 ... I" 9 



... l6-5 ... 20° 39' 



Septune... 1 1 ... 7.49 p.m. ... 1" 2 



... 5.16 ... 2I J 42' N. 



Moon's Phases. 



h.m. 



h.tn. 



Full ... Feb. 6 ... 6.24 p.m. yd Qr. 



... Feb. 14 ... 0.35 a.m. 



Sew ... „ 20 ... 7-1 1 p.m. istQr. 



„ 28 ...11. 13 a.m. 



In apogee. February ist, at 8.7 a.m. distant 251,700 

 miles: and in perigee on 17th, at 7.3 a.m., distant 

 228,200 miles. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon : 



Feb. 10 ... Jupiter ... 10 p.m. ... planet 7 9' N. 

 15 ... Saturn ... 5 a 111. ... ,, 5 3c/ N. 



■ 9 



^-i-jrn 

 Mars- 



'9 



rcuryt ... 11 



Venus* ... 1 



Below English horizon. 



S. 



3° 19' S. 



5° 2' S. 



t Daylight. 



The Srs still continues to exhibit spots on his 

 disc, showing that it has not yet reached the time 

 of minimum 



Mercikv is a morning star, poorly placed for 

 observation, though rising on the ist about 1 

 hoar 14 minutes before the sun. At 6 p.m., on 

 nth. it is in conjunction with, and only 1' north 

 of Mars, but unfortunately below the English 

 on. 



in superior conjunction at to p.m. on 

 :5th. and is too close to the sun for observation. 



is loo far south and too close to tbi 

 for observation. 



kk rises about 10 p.m on ist, and just 

 ■0 can be well observed a little 

 south 'lis. 



Satckn is a morning Mar in OphiuchuS, about 



. I of B Scorpil, an<l rising about 4A hours 



the sun in the middle of the month. The 



I the rings still exceeds the apparent 



diameter of the planet. 



scs more than half rm i 

 Saturn, and may \r. found a little Math 1 

 flScorpii. 



I is slill in ;• ening. 



Meteors may be looked for specially on Feb- 

 ruary 3rd, 7th and 10th. 



Red Stars in position during February : 



R.A. Magui- 



h. in. Dec. tints. 



B 211 Cancri ...8.49 i7°4i'N. 6-5 (?) Variable 



6 Leonis 9.25 iu° vf N. 6 Orange 



R .. 941 12 -' N. 5-3-11-5 Fiery (312 days) 



9 Sexiantis 9.4S 5 stf N. 7 



iS 10.6 7° 54' S. 6 



— Argus 9.3 25 20' S. 5 



B.A.C.!79SLyncis S.16 42 24' N. 6 



Pons-Winnecke's Comet has been picked up 

 by Mr. Perrine, of the Lick Observatory, within 2 

 of its predicted place. When discovered on 

 January ;st, in R.A. ijh. 19m. 425s., S. Dec. 

 3° 5S' 34", it was very feebly visible. It is expected 

 to pass its perehelion on March 20th. 



Comets of 1S9S. — Encke's is due to make its 

 perihelion passage in May, Swift's (1SS9, IV.) and 

 "Wolfs in June, and Tempel's (1S67, II.) in Septem- 

 ber. Their periods are respectively 3303, S534, 

 6 - S2i and 6507 years. 



The Lunar Eclipse. — Our readers may have 

 been puzzled by finding the times given in our last 

 number in error to the extent of no less than fifty 

 minutes, an error into which so great an authority 

 as "The Nautical Almanac" for 1S98 had fallen, 

 though the mistake has been corrected in that for 

 1899. We have no special note to make respecting 

 the eclipse, save that the edge of the shadow just 

 reached the southern wall of Tycho. 



Minor Planets. — During 1S97 eight more of 

 these tiny bodies were added to the list of those 

 previously recorded, no less than seven being 

 discovered by M. Charlois, of Nice, and one by 

 Herr Villiger, of Munich Observatory. 



Parallax of the Sun. — Since 1SS8 over twenty 

 observatories in different parts of the world have 

 been engaged, at the suggestion of Dr. Gill, Her 

 Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape, in a series of 

 careful observations of the minor planets, Iris, 

 Victoria and Sappho, for the purpose of re-deter- 

 mining the solar parallax. The result is 8-802", 

 with possible error o 005". Supposing Clarke's 

 equatorial radius of the earth, 20,926,202 feet, to 

 be correct, this makes our mean distance from the 

 sun to be 92,874,000 miles. 



Friedrich August Tiieoho re Winnecke, whose 

 name is associated with the comet mentioned 

 above, passed away, at Bonn, on December 3rd, 

 aged C12, having been born at Hanover on 

 February 5th, 1835. After being educated at 

 Berlin, Dr. Winnecke assisted Encke, of that city, 

 and Argelander at Bonn. He received an appoint- 

 ment at l'ulkova, and spent many years there. 

 In 1868 he took charge of the observatory at 

 Carlsruhe, and in 1S7J was nominated as Professor 

 of Astronomy at the newly-founded University of 

 Strasburg. lie was chosen Rector in t882; but 

 rk was over, though he did not retire until 



o< e which time be ha bi en living in 



retirement at Bonn, He was elected an Associate 



of the Royal Astronomical Society in [863 He 



I the prize of the Vienna Academy for 



metary discoveries, 



Tiik late Dr B \ < ionld is lo havi hi . in. 1 v 



kepi fresh by a sum ol 20,000 dollars, given by 

 it] ;ht< r, thi Intere 1 ol u hicfa is to bi 



employed In the endowment ol astron al 



al work I- '■■■ 1 1 1, nil. 1 



th. m pbj li al 



