SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



253 



CONlJUCTEl) DV FRANK C. DENNETT. 











Position at !<oon. 







Rises. 



Sets. 



R.A. 







Feb. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



Dec. 



Sun 



.. 6 ... 



7.32 a.m. . 



. 4-57 P-m. .. 



. 21.22 .. 



15° 26' S 





16 ... 



7.14 



- 5-15 



. 21. 1 .. 



12° 8' 





26 ... 



6.53 



- 5-33 



. 22.39 -- 



8° 30' 







Rises. 



Souths. 



Sets. 





Moon 



.. 6 ... 



8.44 a m. . 



■ 3-35 P-m. . 



■ 10-43 P 



m. 





16 ... 



4.20 p.m. . 



..11.52 



. 6.46 a 



m. 





26.... 



4.34 a.m. . 



. 8.1 a.m. . 



• 11-31 

 Positic 



n at Noon 







Souths. 



Semi 



R.A. 









h. m. Diameter. 



h.m. 



Dec. 



Mercury 



.. 6 ... 



10.36 a.m. . 



.. 4" I 



. 19.44 .. 



19' 13' s 





iG ... 



10.29 



- 3" 4 



. 20.16 .. 



19^ 36' 





26 ... 



10 41 



.. 3" 



. 21.6 .. 



. 17° 54' 



Ventis 



... 6 .. 



3.7 P-m. 



.10" 9 



. 015 .. 



2° 19' N 





16 ... 



3-5 



..12" I 



. 0.52 .. 



• 7° 19' 





26 ... 



3.0 



"I3" 5 



. 1.26 .. 



. 11° 59' 



Mars 



.. 6 ... 



7.41 P-m. . 



. 5" I 



. 4-50 •■ 



25^^ 17' N 





16 ... 



7.14 



-- 4" 7 



. 5-2 .. 



25° 27' 





26 ... 



6.49 



.. 4" - 



. 5-i6 .. 



■ 25° 37' 



Jupiter 



.. 16 ... 



0.45 a.m. . 



.20" 6 



. 10.34 " 



10° 28' N 



Saturn 



.. 16 ... 



6.9 



.. 7" 7 



. 1555 .- 



. 18= 10' S 



Uranus 



.. 6 ... 



6.36 



-- J" 7 



. 15-46 .. 



19° 40' S 



Neptune 



.. 16 ... 



7.18 p.m. 



Moon 

 h.m. 



.. i" 2 



s Phases. 



. 5-6 - 



. 21-^ 18' N 

 h.m. 



New ... 



Feb. I 



... 8.(3 p.m. 



ist Qr. ... 



Feb. 9 



.. 7.25 p.m 



Full ... 



., 17 



...10. II a.m. 



3rd Qr. ... 



,> 24 



.. 3.44 a.m 



Sun. — There is an annular eclipse on February 

 1st, quite invisible, however, in this country. It 

 may be seen in the South Pacific Ocean, New 

 Zealand, Central and a great part of South 

 America. Spots seem to be now generally visible, 

 though not of great extent or in great numbers. 

 A large spot crossed the disc early in January. 



Mercury, although reaching its greatest elonga- 

 tion west (26° 23') at 5 a.m. on the i6th, is ill- 

 placed for observation, owing to its great southern 

 declination. 



Venus daily gets into better position for the 

 observer, reaching its greatest eastern elongation 

 (46" 38') at 10 p.m. on the 15th, It is interesting 

 to watch the phases of this planet, the more particu- 

 larly because the half-moon phase is frequently 

 observed to differ by some (three to eight) days 

 from the time of greatest elongation. 



Mars now presents but a tiny disc to the 

 observer, and so is difficult to observe e.xcept with 

 fairly large instruments. 



Jupiter, coming into opposition on February 

 23rd, at 2 p.m., is now at its best for the observer. 

 The belts may be seen with very small telescopic 

 power, whilst almost any pocket telescope will 

 show the satellites. Jupiter is a little east of the 

 4th-magnitude p Leonis. 



Saturn rises at 2.36 a.m. on February ist, and 

 about four minutes earlier each morning, and its 

 apparent diameter slowly increases, whilst its ring 

 system presents a magnificent appearance. It is 

 best observed from 5 a.m. till sunrise, closely 

 north-west of the beautiful 3rd-magnitude double 

 star ;S Scorpii. 



Uranus is not far from Saturn, being just east 

 of the 4th-magnitude \ Libras. 



Neptune can be observed in the evening just 

 north-east of the 5th-magnitude 106 Tauri, and 

 shining as an 8th-magnitude star. 



Variable Stars 

 February are : — 



R.A. 



h.m. Dec. 



in good position during 



Magnitude. 

 Max. Mm. 



o- Hydras 9.21 8° 59' S. 2-5 



T „ 8.49 8° 38' S. 6.5 



R Leonis 9.40 12° I'N. 53 



K ,, Minoris... 9.37 35° 6'N. 6'2 



R Ursae Majoris... 10.35 69^ 27' N. 6'o 



LI. 17576 Cancri ... 8.48 17° 41' N. 



3'0 

 10-5 



JO'O 



<H'0 



12'0 



8-5 



Period. 



31256 days. 

 369-4 days. 

 302'3 days. 



--T- -. t- -■• 6-5 



Also variable in colour, yellow to red. 



Meteors should be looked for on February ist 

 to 4th, 7th, loth, and 15th to 20th. 



A Nev;^ Comet. — On December 8th, Mr. Perrine, 

 of the Lick Observatory, discovered yet another 

 of these bodies, shining as an Sth-magnitude star, 

 with a tail less than the diameter of the moon, just 

 south-west of e Piscium. It is travelling eastward 

 through the northern parts of Eridanus. As it 

 passed its perihelion, according to Prof. Kreutz, 

 on November 26th, its brightness was already 

 waning at the time of its discovery. 



The Recent Opposition of Mars. — Much has 

 been said of late years respecting the so-called 

 "canals" on Mars, attention to which was first 

 called by Prof. Schiaparelli. Notwithstanding the 

 small angular diameter of the planet, very many of 

 these have been seen during this past season. 

 Herr Leo Brenner, at the Manora Observatory, 

 had picked up no less than eighty-four of these 

 objects previously seen by Prof. Schiaparelli, 

 together with twenty-eight new ones, before 

 December 12th, according to his paper in "The 

 Journal of the British Astronomical Society." 



Sunspots. — At the meeting of the British Astro- 

 nomical Association, held on December 30th, Mr. 

 E. W. Maunder, of the Greenwich Observatory, 

 read a paper on " The Level of Sunspots," a 

 subject attracting much attention at the present 

 time. As a consequence there was a considerable 

 amount of discussion on the paper, participated in 

 by the Misses Brown and A. M. Clerke, Dr. 

 Johnston Stoney, Messrs. G. M. Seabroke, W. H. 

 Wesley, Alex. J. S. Adams, Edwin Holmes and 

 C. Thwaites. The subject is too lengthy to 

 discuss in a brief note such as the present, and we 

 would inform our readers that it will be found 

 reported at length in the journal of the Asso- 

 ciation. 



Dr. Axel Moller. — Dr. Moller, Professor of 

 Astronomy and Director of the Observatory at 

 Lund, in Sweden, has died, in his sixty-seventh 

 year. He was elected an Associate of our Royal 

 Astronomical Society in 1874, and received its 

 gold medal in February, 1S81. The motions of 

 Faye's periodic comet were carefully investigated 

 by him. 



"Amateur Observers' .\lmanack " for 1S97. 

 — This is a card, seventeen inches by twelve 

 inches, compiled by Mr. Arthur Mee, F.R..\..S., of 

 Hamilton Street, Cardiff, and contains a large 

 amount of useful astronomical information at a 

 trifling cost. Mr. Mee is President of the .\stro- 

 nomical Society of Wales, a young but healthy 

 society, which seems to be making stead)' progress. 



