SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



297 



CONDUCTED BY FRANK C. DENNETT. 



March. 



March. 



\f0OH 3 ... 



13 - 



23 - 



Rises. 



. 

 643 a.m 

 ... 6.20 

 — 5-57 

 Rises. 

 h.m. 



0.14 p.m 

 0.0 a.m. 



5'50 



Sets, 

 h.m. 



5.41 P.m. 

 ... 6.0 

 ... 6.17 

 Souths, 

 h.m. i 



.. S.42 p.m. ... 

 .. 3.59 a.m. ... 

 .. 0.51 p.m. ... 



Souths. 



March, h. m. 



Mercury... 3 ... 11.33 a.m, 



13 ... 0.1 p.m. 



23 ... 0.33 



I enus ... 3 ... 0.2S 



13 — O.35 



23 ... 041 



Wiirs ... 13 ... 10.22 a.m, 



Jupiter ... 3 ... Mg 



13 ... 1*6 



23 ... 022 



Saturn ... 13 ... 5.20 



L'rjnus ... 13 ... 443 



Seftune... 13 ... 5.51 p.m, 



Semi 

 Diameter. 



... 2" 5 

 ... 2' 5 

 ... 2" 6 



... 4" 9 

 ... 4" 9 



... 5" o 



...20" 3 

 ...20" 4 

 ... 7*9 

 ... I" S 

 ... I' 3 



Position at Xoon. 

 R.A. 



Dec. 

 ... 6° 42' S. 

 ... 2" 4S' 



... i° 9' N. 



Age at Noon. 



d. h. in. 



10 16 19 



20 16 19 



1 3 23 



Position at Noon. 



R.A. 



h.m 

 ...22.57 

 ...23-34 

 ... O.II 



Sets. 



1. in. 



4.24 a.m. 

 7-52 

 S.io p.m. 



h.m. 



22.18 ... 

 23.26 ... 



0.37 ... 

 23. i\ ... 

 23.59 •■• 



"•45 ... 

 21.47 ... 

 12.32 ... 

 12-28 ... 

 1224 ... 

 16.44 ... 



:6.6 ... 

 5.16 ... 



Dec. 



12° 53' S. 

 5° 36' 

 3°2/N. 

 6° 33' S. 



3° 34' N. 



I4 C 37' S. 



1° 47' S. 



i° 19' 



0° 48' 

 20° 27' S. 

 20° 42' S. 

 21° 43' N. 



Moon's Phases. 



h.m. h.m. 



Full... Mar. 8 ... 9.29 a.m. 3rd Qr. ... Mar. 15 ... 7.48 a.m. 

 Sew ... „ 22 ... 8.37 „ 1st Qr. ... „ 30 ... 740 ,, 



In apogee. March 1st, at 5.1 a.m, distant 251,200 

 miles; in perigee on 14th, at 2.9 p.m., distant 

 230,000 miles ; and in apogee again on 29th, at 

 15 a.m., distant 251,300 miles. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon : 



Mar. 10 



14 



»3 

 »3 



Jupiter 

 Saturn't 



Mars 

 Mercury 



Venust ... 7 

 Below English horizon. 



I am. 



noon 



1 a.m. 



planet 7 4' 

 .. 5° 18' 

 ., 4° 25' 



5° 56" 



6° 38' 



t Daylight. 



OCCULTATIONS AND NEAR APPROACH : 



Re- 



Mar 



M 

 16. 



Angle 

 from 

 Vertex. 



ilagni- appears. 

 Star. lude. h.m. 



a ScorpU ... 11 ... 2.38 a.m. ...1 1 1° 

 23 Tiorl ... 42 ... 9 24 p.m. ...316 

 * Geminorum 3-7 ...11-13 P-nx 



appears, from 

 h.m. Ve\ 



A ngle 

 from 

 ertex. 



349 a.m. ... 305" 



Near approach. 



78° ... 0-14 a,m. ... 237° 



The Sun still continues to show spots on his 

 disc, though most of them are small. At 2 p m. 

 ih the sun enters Aries. 



Mercury is a morning star during the earlier 

 part of the month, is in superior conjunction at 

 4 p.m. on iMh, and later becomes an evening 

 star ; but it is loo close to the sun for successful 



Vasits i>. an evening star all the month, and is 

 never very far fr bring in conjunction 



with it at 2 p m on 20th, Venai being 1 14' 



is a morning star, rising about fifty minutes 

 rhe sun on 



al its best this month, coming into 



.t mi-lnight on f } \h. the pland being 



still n- morning <ii 10th, 



rth Satellite will 



be visible near the planet to north-east, I. being 

 eclipsed and II. and III. in transit. 



Saturn is a morning star, rising at 1.55 a.m. on 

 1st and at 11.52 p.m. on 31st, being situated in the 

 southern part of Ophiuchus. 



Uranus is a little south-east of £ Scorpii, and 

 rises a little more than half-an-hour before Saturn. 



Neptune is still visible all the evening, but is a 

 poor object for small telescopes. 



Meteors may be looked out for specially about 

 let, 2nd and 4th. 



Red Stars in position during March 



Magni- 



Dec. hide. 

 46 & N. 55 



62 27' N. 



ff.il. 

 h. 111. 



B 290 Canes Venat. 12.39 



o. Ursa Majoris 



R Crateris 



j8 Corvi 



v Ursa Majoris 



10.56 



10.54 

 12.2S 



17° 38' S. 

 22° 41' S. 



J Variable in colour, 

 1 _ orange to red. 



Variable. 



Orange. 



[.12 33 30' N. 



Zodiacal light may be looked out for after sun- 

 set this month. On February Sth, at Sunbury, 

 the writer saw its apex reaching almost up into 

 Aries at 6.40 p.m. 



"The Second Moon of the Earth" is an- 

 nounced by " Dr. George Waltemath, of Hamburg, 

 its discoverer," who has been sending out a 

 " Summons to Astronomers," as well as writing an 

 article in "The Globe" of February 7th. The 

 " discovery " is, however, only on paper, and the 

 data from which calculations have been made 

 appear to be very insufficient, whilst the calcula- 

 tions themselves are carried out to what is really a 

 preposterous degree of pseudo-accuracy. As an 

 instance of this, the mean daily motion is given as 

 3019439012°. A transit of the body across the 

 sun's disc is predicted for July 30th. Its distance 

 is given as 640,000 miles, or two and two- thirds 

 the distance of the moon. The diameter is put at 

 435 miles, but it is said usually to be invisible 

 owing to the bad reflecting qualities of its surface. 



The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society is this year being given to Mr. W. F. 

 Denning, of Bristol, in recognition of his numerous 

 discoveries in meteoric and cometary astronomy, 

 as well as for his valuable work in other branches 

 of the science. It is doubtful if the honour has 

 ever been bestowed on a more worthy recipient. 



Amherst College, Mass., has had 18,000 

 dollars bequeathed to it for the purpose of pur- 

 chasing the site and erecting a new observatory. 

 The trustees have granted the money for a new 

 telescope. 



A remarkable meteor was observed over a 

 large area at 5.34 p.m. (Greenwich mean time) 

 on January zist. It was exceptionally coloured, 

 Some called it blue, others green, others again gold. 

 The writer described it as deep green. It was 

 1 ible in the southern sky. Its altitude when 

 outh-west — it travelled westward, sinking 

 towards the horizon — wag about )o as seen from 

 Dalston, It is said, where the sky was clear, to 

 have been brighter than the moon. 



Thk Mr.'., I'i.ani-.t:. One observed by 

 ''"< . on August .; ,ih, 1897, Is really a 

 ol 1. 188, found by Pi ters In 1X78. 

 Thk Lalande Prize, In the gift oi tli<- Paris 

 ; • of Sell i" as, bas been awarded t<> Mr. 

 Perrine, of thi Lie! I •bsorvatory, for his discover^ . 

 of comets. 



ro- 



