for ike year 1884. xvii 



6-in. transit circle by Troughton and Simms, and the direc- 

 tor, Mr. Todd, intends to extend his operations into standard 

 meridian work. In Queensland the Government are about 

 to carry out a geodetic survey, and to do this a central 

 observatory will be necessary. Steps have already been 

 taken to establish one on a small scale, and a naval gentle- 

 man of considerable astronomical experience (Lieutenant 

 Hoggan) has been appointed to take charge. Two or three 

 years ago Tasmania established a small observatory at 

 Hobart, in charge of Commander Shortt, R.N., chiefly for 

 meteorological observation, which is now regularly carried 

 out all over the island. It is, I believe, intended to gradu- 

 ally add standard astronomical instruments to the equipment, 

 and already a transit instrument has been erected for obtain- 

 ing local time. There are also several amateur observers in 

 Tasmania, who from time to time give valuable aid, and add 

 their quota to our general stock of astronomical knowledge. 

 Among the chief points of interest in the year's history of 

 astronomy is the reappearance of Pons' comet. This comet 

 was first discovered by Pons in 1812. On 1st September 

 last year Mr. Brooks, of Phelps, New York, found a very 

 faint comet in Draco, and when a sufficient number of posi- 

 tions were obtained from which to compute its orbit, it was 

 found to be the comet of 1812 returning to perihelion. It 

 passed its perihelion on 25th January this year, and it 

 became visible for some time to us as a moderately bright 

 object in the western sky. An interesting fact in connection 

 with this comet was the occurrence of certain sudden out- 

 bursts of light in the nucleus. Ordinarily a comet increases 

 gradually in brilliancy as it gets nearer the sun ; but in this 

 case, between seven p.m. and eleven p.m. on 22nd September, 

 it increased its brightness forty times more than is commonly 

 the case, and then waned. Again, in one hour and three- 

 quarters, on 1st January, an outburst of light took place 

 which soon declined pretty rapidly to its original brightness. 

 The comet was not seen here till the 6th January. While 

 looking rather far afield for Pons' comet in January last, 



