SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



223 



flSTRONGMY, 



:!liUlJli:&^4a: Sill 



CONDUCTED BY FRANK C. DENNETT. 











Positit 



n at Noon 







Rises. 



Sets. 



R.A. 







Jan. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



Dec. 



Su)t 



. 7 ... 



8.7 a.m. . 



.. 4.6 p.m. . 



.. 19.16 .. 



22° 18' S 





17 .. 



8.0 



.. 4.21 



.. 19-59 .. 



20° 38' 





27 •• 



747 



.. 4-39 



.. 20.41 .. 



18° 19' 







Rises. 



Souths. 



Sets. 





Moon .. 



. 7 •• 



10.4 a.m. 



.. 3.39 p.m. 



.. 929 P 



m. 





17 ... 



2.42 p.m. 



..H.27 



.. 7.23 a.m. 





27 ... 



3.16 a.m. . 



.. 8.6 a.m. 



.. 10.48 













Position at Noon. 







Souths. 



Semi 



R.A. 









h. m. Diameter. 



h.m. 



Dec. 



Mercury.. 



. 7 ... 



1.27 p.m. 



.. 3" 5 



.. 20.37 .. 



19° 16' S 





17 ... 



0.52 



.. 4" 7 



.. 20.41 .. 



16= 7' 





27 ... 



11.26 a.m. . 



.. 5" 



.. 19.54 .. 



17° 16' 



Venus .. 



. 7 .. 



3.4 p.m. . 



.. 8" 5 



.. 22.13 ... 



12° 40' s 





17 ... 



3-7 



.. 9" 2 



.. 22.56 .. 



7" 53' 





27 ... 



3.8 



..10" 



.. 23.36 .. 



2° 49' 



Mars 



7 ... 



9.30 



.. 6" 9 



.. 4.41 ... 



25= 16' N 





17 ... 



8.48 



.. 6" 3 



. 4.38 ... 



25° 9' 





27 ... 



8.12 



•• 5" 7 



.. 4.42 .. 



25° 10' 



Jupiter .. 



17 ... 



2.59 a.m. . 



..19" 7 



. 10.46 ... 



9° II' N 



Saturn .. 



17 ... 



7-59 



.. 7" 4 



. 15-47 ... 



17° 53' S. 



Uranus .. 



17 ... 



7.48 



.. 1" 7 



.. 15-44 ... 



19° 32' S. 



Neptune .. 



17 ... 



9.18 p.m. . 



Moon 



h.m. 



.. i" 2 



s Phases 



. 5.8 ... 



21-' 29' N. 

 h.m. 



New ... 1 



an. 3 



.. 6.3 a.m. 



isi Qy. ... 



Jan. 10 . 



. 9.46 p.m. 



FttU ... 



„ 18 



.. 8.17p.m. 



3rdQr.... 



„ 25 . 



.. 8.9 p.m. 



Sun. — Spots may still be expected to be few 

 in number and small in extent ; yet, notwithstanding, 

 many are very interesting objects. 



Mercury cannot be said to be well placed for 

 observation this month, owing to its great southern 

 declination, even though it reaches its greatest 

 elongation, 19° 8' east of the sun at 7 p.m., on 

 January 6th. On January 22nd, at 2.0 p.m., it is 

 in inferior conjunction with the sun. 



Venus is daily improving in position, setting 

 about 3h. 40m. after the sun at the beginning of 

 the month. 



Mars is fast decreasing in apparent diameter, 

 but remains in capital position for observation. 



Jupiter may now be observed late in the 

 evening, rising at 9. 11 p.m. on the ist, and about 

 two hours earlier at the end of the month. 



Saturn, rising about 4.25 a.m. on the ist, and 

 about four minutes earlier each morning, can only 

 be seen for a while before dawn. 



Uranus is not far from Saturn, only farther 

 south, and so is also ill-placed for study. 



Variable Stars to be be observed in January, 



R.A. 

 h.m, 

 R. Cancri S.g 



Dec. 



12° / N. 



Magnitude 

 Max. Mtn 



63 <I2-0 



Period. 



>Geminorum 6.56 

 a Canis Maj. (Sirius) 6.33 



20° 45' N. 

 16° 32' S. 



37 4'5 



I 



lod. 3h. 47m. 

 [36s. 



0' ,, „ 6.49 



24° 5'S. 



4 



+ 



* The ancients call this star Red, and compare it with 

 Mars and Antares ; it is now white. 



\ Is this star variable in colour and magnitude ? It is now 

 red, and much less brilliant than O- which follows it. 



Neptune is a very unsatisfactory object except 

 with very powerful 'instruments, and then shows 

 no detail ; but it is still placed well for observation. 



Meteors should be looked for on January 2nd 

 specially, also 21st and 31st. Did any of our readers 

 observe the brilliant meteor at a little after nine 

 o'clock on Sunday night, November 29th? 



A New Comet was discovered in the con- 

 stellation Vulpecula, on November 2nd, by Mr. 

 Perrine, at the Lick Observatory. It was visible 

 only as a faint nebulosity, with a i2th-magnitude 

 nucleus, with the fifteen'-inch achromatic at 

 Edinburgh Royal Observatory. When discovered 

 it was in R.A. 2oh. 20m., N. Dec. 25° 7', its motion 

 being towards the south-west, passing very close to 

 Altair, the ist-magnitude star in Aquila. Accord- 

 ing to Dr. Otto Knopf, of Jena, the perihelion will 

 be passed February 8- 1294 Berlin mean time. 



The Yerkes Observatory will soon have its 

 great telescope ready for use. The great object- 

 glass, 41I inch clear aperture, 61 feet focus, 

 weighing by itself 515 lbs., and with its cell, etc., 

 nearly as much again, is now finished. Without 

 the rest of the telescope this magnificent object- 

 glass will have cost something very nearly like 

 2^21,000. 



Sirius, who now brightens our long evenings with 

 his lustre, was discovered, so long ago as January 

 31st, 1862, by Alvan Clark, with a 1907-inch 

 achromatic, to have a loth-magnitude companion, its 

 position-angle being measured by Chacornac as 

 85° i', and its distance io"-4. It must be very 

 large — large enough to shine as a ist-magnitude 

 star, or it would not exert so great an influence on its 

 brighter companion. Its position and distance were 

 measured, on October 24th, 1896, as 189°, 3"'8i, 

 by Professor Aitken, at the Lick Observatory. 



Procyon, the ist-magnitude star in Canis Minor, 

 was long ago suspected to have a dark com- 

 panion, because of the irregularities in its proper 

 motion, and now we learn that, at the Lick 

 Observatory, Professor Schaeberle has discovered 

 a companion of the i3th-magnitude, position 318°, 

 distant 4"-6. 



M. Loewy, long on the staff of the Paris 

 Observatory, has been appointed its director, in 

 succession to the late M. Tisserand. 



Dr. Benjamin Apthorp Gould. — Astronomy has 

 sustained a severe loss in the death of Dr. Gould, 

 at Cambridge, Mass., on November 27th. Born in 

 1824, he founded the Astronomical Journal in 1849, 

 and edited it until 1861, when the Civil War 

 brought about a suspension of its publication. He, 

 in 1866, by aid of the newly laid Atlantic Cable, 

 was the first to determine the difference in longitude 

 between Europe and America. He went to the 

 Argentine Republic in 1870, and accomplished 

 excellent work, for not only did he compile a 

 catalogue of the southern stars, and map a con- 

 siderable portion of the same heavens, but also 

 built the national observatory at Cordova, and 

 organised the work in the country, establishing a 

 number of stations in connection with that centre. 

 Harvard University bestowed upon him the degree 

 of LL.D. on his return in 1SS5, and later 

 Columbia College conferred a similar degree. The 

 Doctor resumed the publication of the Journal and 

 has accomplished other good work. He has now 

 passed away in his seventy-third year. 



