SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



89 



Conducted by Alice Everett, M.A. 

 (Hon. Secretary of the British Astronomical Association.) 



Sun 



Moon 



Mercury. 



Venus 



Mars 



Saturn .. 

 Uranus .. 

 Juno 



June 4 

 „ 18 



May 31 

 June 10 



May 31 



„ 26 



June 19 



Rises. 



A.M. 

 Il.lll. 



■ ■ 3-53 .. 



■■ 345 •• 



Soutlis. 



NOON. 



,. 12.31 ., 



Rises. 

 9.25 .. 



A.M. 

 .. 3.27 •• 



,. 5-3 .. 

 . 546 .. 



. 2.21 .. 



. 2.9 .. 



. 1. 51 .. 



. 1.9 .. 



. 12.42 .. 



. 12.14 .. 



P.M. 

 . 2.IS .. 



• 5-13 



Sets. 

 P.M. 



Il.lll. 

 8.8 

 8.17 



Sets. 



... 941 



Souths. 

 ... 12.37 



P.M. 

 ... 12.52 

 ,.. 1.32 

 .. I.50 



A.M. 



.. 9.7 



.. g.II 



.. 9.16 



.. 6.31 



.. 6.17 



.. 6.1 



P.M. 



.. 7-56 



.. 10.2 



.. IO.25 



.. 8.4O 



Position. 

 R.A. Dec. 



4.50 ... 22° 28' N. 



548 ... 23° 26' 



. 5-28 .. 



6.47 .. 



745 •• 



1.46 .. 



2.29 .. 



3-i4 .. 



23.10 .. 



23.35 ... 



s' N. 



... 13.12 



... 14.40 



... 14.43 



... 14-32 



22' 15' 



8° 37' 



12° 19' 



7° 54' S. 

 5° 2/ 

 3° 3' 



4° 49' 



15 8' 

 o c 6' 

 o' 5' N. 



3rd Qr. 



1st Qr. 



Date. 



Star. 



May 31 



? Piscium 



June 12 



58 Virginis 



,, 14 



B.A.C. 4923 



» 15 



B.A.C. 5197 



„ 19 



B.A.C. 6628 



\ T . Ft. 



ance. 



N.Pt. 





2.40 a.m. 



207° 



187 .. 



■ 9-37 P-ni 



246° 



175° •• 



. 11.57 p. m 



2 3 2 u 



108° .. 



. 10.23 p.m 



300° 



8o° . 



. 12.8 a.m. 



26 7 ° 



Moon. 

 May 27 ... 8.4 p.m. New ... June 3 ... 10.56 p.m. 

 June 10 .. 1.14 p.m. Full ... June 18 ... 7.6 a.m. 



OCCULTATIONS OF STARS BV THE MOON. 



A ngle A ngle 



Disappear- from Re-appear- from 



Mag. ance. I 



■ 4* 



. 6 9.0 p.m. 

 .. 6 11.20 p.m. 

 .. 6 9.2 p.m. 

 .. 6 10.46 p.m. 



NEAR APPROACH. 



June 14, b.a.c. 4700, 6th mag., at 12.41 a.m., angle 23 . 



The Sun. — Fine groups of spots still continue to 

 appear at intervals, forming interesting objects for 

 observation. 



Mercury is an evening star, setting about if hours 

 after the Sun in the middle of June. For more 

 than a month this planet will now be unusually 

 favourably situated for observation. It will traverse 

 successively the constellations Taurus, Gemini and 

 Cancer, and on the 15th will be near the 3rd 

 magnitude star 5 Geminorum. 



Venus will be conspicuous in the morning before 

 sunrise in the constellations Aries and Taurus, and 

 not far from the bright star Aldebaran at the end 

 of June. 



Mars is in a somewhat barren region of the sky, 

 Aquarius-Pisces. This planet will soon be visible 

 in the evening, under good conditions. 



Jupiter is not visible. 



Saturn can be observed in the S.W. soon after 

 sunset in Virginis, about 5 north of the bright star, 

 Spica. 



Uranus lies N.W. of the 3rd magnitude star k 

 Librae, and close to 5 Librae, 6th magnitude. 



Neptune is invisible. 



Minor Planet Discovery. — Thirty4;hree fresh 

 additions were made last year to our list of the 

 hundreds of minute attendants of our primary, which 

 circulate between the paths of Mars and Jupiter, 

 forming a sort of missing link between the inferior 

 planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, on the 

 one hand, and the superior planets, Jupiter, Saturn, 

 Uranus, Neptune, on the other. The work of 

 discovery is now carried on entirely by photography, 

 which requires immensely less time and labour than 

 the old method of visual observation by comparison 

 with charts. A planet may be picked up at once 

 on a photographic plate by the fact that owing to 

 its motion among the fixed stars it leaves its impress 

 as a little "trail" instead of by a round dot as a 

 star would. 



Nova Norm.e, the new variable star discovered 

 by Mrs. Fleming on a photographic plate on 

 October 26th, has been found to have a spectrum 

 like that of Nova Auriga? at its second appearance, 

 that is, of a nebular character. 



Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes. 

 Rev. T. W. Webb. A fifth edition of this useful 

 friend of the amateur astronomer, revised and 

 enlarged to two vols., by Rev. T. E. Espin, is being 

 published by Longmans. The first vol. is now out. 



Flammarion, the Astronomer. — An interesting 

 account of a visit to the great French astronomer. 

 M. Camille Flammarion, by Mr. R. H. Sherard, 

 appears in the May issue of " McClure's Magazine." 

 Flammarion appears to have been a very precocious 

 child, and at the age of sixteen he entered the Paris 

 Observatory as pupil astronomer. At that time he 

 was already the author of a work entitled "The 

 Cosmogony of the Universe," which had attracted 

 a good deal of attention. He remained four years 

 at the Observatory, and had the good fortune 

 to be able to make certain observations of comets 

 which have been described as the most interest- 

 ing that have been made during this century. 

 At the age of twenty-two, he joined the staff of a 

 scientific magazine called " Cosmos," and in the 

 following year was asked by Henri Martin to 

 contribute regularly to what was then the most 

 important daily in Paris, the " Siecle." Whilst 

 taking an interest in Aerostatics and Meteorology, 

 and continuing his literary work he did not neglect 

 his astronomical observations. From iS73to 1878, 

 he was entirely absorbed by the study of double 

 stars and his catalogue on the subject has since 

 become a classic in every observatory throughout 

 the civilized world. The'planet to which he has 

 devoted especial attention is Mars, as he says, " It 

 is the planet about which one has the most 

 reason to hope that definite information may 

 be obtained. Speaking about his past life he says 

 that the three achievements of which he is 

 most proud is the starting of the " Monthly 

 Review of Astronomy," the founding of the French 

 Society of Astronomy, and the establishment of 

 his observatory at Jussy. 



