SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



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CONDUCTED BY FRANK C 



. DENNETT. 









Position at Noon. 







i?is«. Sf/s. 



R.A. 





Sept 



/j.HI. /l.J». 



h.m. Dec. 



Sun 



• • 9 



.. 5.28 a.m. ... 6.26 p.m 



. ... :i.i3 ... 5° 2' N 





19 



., 5.44 ... 6.3 



... 11.49 ••• 1° 11' 





29 



.. 6.0 ... 5.41 



... 12.25 ••• 2° 43' S 







Rises. Souths. 



Sets. 



Moon 



.. 9 



.. 8.7 a.m. ... 1.34 p.ir 



. ... 6.45 p.m. 





19 



.. 5.14 p.m. ...10.30 



... 2,45 a.m. 





29 



.. 9-5 ••• 5-10 a.m 



. ... 2.12 p.m. 



Position at Noon. 







Souths. Semi 



R.A. 







h.m. Diameter. 



h.m. Dec. 



Mercury 



• • 9 



.. 1.30 p.m. ... 3" 3 



... 12.47 - f 17' s. 





19 



.. 1.23 ... 3" 9 



... 13.18 ... 11= 52' 





29 



.. 0.50 ... 4" 7 



... 13.25 ... 12° 52' 



Venus 



•• 9 



.. i.i ... 5" 2 



... 12.17 ... 0° 38' s. 





19 



.. 1.7 ... 5" 3 



... 13.2 ... 5° 46' 





29 



.. 1. 13 ... 5" 4 



... 13.48 ... 10° 41' 



Mars 



• ■ 9 



.. 5.34 a.m. ... 4" 9 



... 4.49 ... 21° 31' N. 





19 



•• 5.15 - 5" 2 



... 5.9 ... 22= 14' 





29 



.. 4.53 ... 5" 6 



... 5.27 ... 22° 47' 



Jupiter . 



.. 19 



.. 10.7 ...14" 7 



... 10.3 ... 12° 49' N. 



Saturn . 



.. 19 



.. 2.59 ... /' 3 



... 14-55 ... 14° 33' S. 



Uranus 



.. 9 



.. 3-59 ... 1" 8 



... 15-15 ... 17° 50' S. 



^ 



'epiune . 



.. 9 



.. 6.3 ... I" 2 



... 5.18 ... 21° 42' N. 



Moon's Phases. 

 h.m. h.m. 



New ... Sept. 7 ... 1.43 p.m. istQr. ... Sept. 14 ... 4.10 a.m. 

 Full ... „ 21 ...10.49 11 srd Qr. ... „ 30 ... 1.58 ,, 



Sun. — The spots are small ; on August 7th no 

 spots, bright or dark, were seen on the disc. The 

 mottling is, however, very beautiful at times. 



Mercury is at greatest eastern elongation, 

 26° 35', on September 12th, but, notwithstanding, 

 is not well placed for observation. 



Mars is daily improving its position and 

 increasing in angular diameter, rising at 9.48 p.m. 

 on ist and 8.35 on 30th of month. 



The other planets are still too near the sun for 

 successful observation. 



Meteors should be looked for on September 

 1-2, 6-7, 11-13 and 25, specially during the first 

 week. 



Brook's Comet remains a very faint object, and 

 it appears that its perihelion passage will not be 

 made until about November 4th. 



Variable Stars. — During September the follow- 

 ing are in good position : — 



Magnitude. 

 Max. Min. Period. 



.. 6-3 ... <i2-5 ... 404-0 days. 

 .. 6 ... <io-5 ... 388-0 days. 

 .. 57 ... < i2'5 ... 430'0 days. 

 .. 2'2 ... 2'8 



R.A. 





h. m. 



N. Dec. 



R. Andromedae 0.17 . 



: 37° 51' 



R. Aquarii ... 23.37 . 



. 16° 0' 



R. Cassiopese* 23.51 . 



• 50° 39' 



a .. 0.33 . 



• 55° 49' 



l8 Pegasi ... 22.57 . 



. 27° 22' 



2-2 



27 



* A vividly red star. 

 It was in Cassiopea, about R.A. oh. 20m., N. Dec. 63° 24', 

 where the brilliant new star of 1572 blazed out so vividly as 

 to be visible in the noonday sky. 



The Total Eclipse. — As these notes are being 

 prepared, the news has come to hand of the failure 

 of our friends in Norway, owing to the presence of 

 .a cloud which obscured the sun all the time of 

 totality. It is earnestly to be hoped that the 



Russian observers in Siberia have fared better. 

 We fear that our Astronomer Royal has also failed 

 at Jesso, in Japan. 



Meteor of April i2th. — A most interesting 

 letter has been received from Mr. W. F. Denning, 

 of Bristol, respecting this splendid meteor. He 

 writes : " The meteor seems to have been first seen 

 at a height of iiS miles above Formby, Lancashire, 

 and to have disappeared at a height of thirty-four 

 miles above Doddington, Cambridgeshire. Length 

 of path, 177 miles; velocity, nineteen miles per 

 second. The meteor descended to the earth's 

 surface at an angle of 31"^ from a radiant at about 

 [R.A.] 50°, [Dec] + 44° in Perseus. 



The Next Solar Total Eclipse visible in the 

 British Isles will be in 1954, June 30th, when an 

 eclipse occurs, visible as a total eclipse at Unst, 

 the most northerly of the Shetland Isles, totality 

 lasting 2m. 20s. The next visible in England is in 

 1999, August nth, when the line of totality strikes 

 the earth's surface in the southern part of the Gulf 

 of Mexico, crosses the Atlantic Ocean, traverses 

 England from Padstow, in Cornwall, to Torquay, 

 passing south of Ventnor, and finishes in the Bay 

 of Bengal. Thus the late Professor C. Pritchard, 

 of Oxford, was informed by the late Mr. J. Russell 

 Hind, who for so many years superintended our 

 " Nautical Almanac." 



A Lunar Object. — In the Mare Crisium, the 

 beautiful enclosed plain in the north-west quadrant, 

 three craters, known as Picard, Pierce and Pierce 

 A, are visible. To the west of Picard — the southern 

 crater — is a brightish spot, which is a most 

 interesting object, varying in size and brightness. 

 Under certain illumination has been seen a shallow 

 depression in the place of the spot, and one or two 

 tiny craterlets have been noticed within its area. 

 The variations in its appearance do not seem to 

 tally wholly with the illumination. Sometimes it 

 has almost seemed as if a sort of fog rose over the 

 object and produced the appearance. It is 

 undoubtedly a singular object. 



The Zodiacal Light. — Those of our readers 

 who live in regions possessing clear open skies 

 ought to look out for this singular object. On the 

 nth and 12th of February last, M. E. Antoniadi 

 had a splendid view of it from Juvisy. The writer 

 had good views of it in February, 187S, between 

 7.20 and S p.m., from the Town Quay at South- 

 ampton. During September and October, the 

 time for observation is the early morning some 

 time before sunrise. It appears as a faint cone of 

 light about 12^ broad at the base stretching along 

 the line of the ecliptic to an altitude of say 50^ 

 reminding one of the milky way. Of course it is 

 observed with the naked eye. 



Lunar Eclipses. — Total eclipses of this class, 

 with a clear sky, are most interesting phenomena. 

 On more than one occasion the writer has noticed 

 that whilst the interior of the cone of shadow 

 presented a reddish or copper colour, the outer 

 edge appeared blue, giving the effect of the edge 

 being darker than the middle. These chromatic 

 effects doubtless being due to the dispersion brought 

 about by the earth's atmosphere. 'These were seen 

 very markedly on August 23rd, 1S77, and March 

 nth, 1895. Another peculiarity noticed is the 

 change of the relative brightness of lunar objects 

 during totality, some of the objects appearing 

 abnormally bright, whilst Aristarchus, in the 

 north-east quadrant, ordinarily the brightest object 

 on the moon, can barely be identified. 



