9 2 



SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



CONDUCTED BY F. C. DENNETT. 









Position at Noon. 





1900 Rises 



Sets. 



R.A. 



Dec. 





Aug. h.m. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



o ; 



Sun 



. 8 . . 4.35 



a.m. .. 7.36 p.m. .. 



9.12 .. 



16.13 N. 





18 .. 4.52 



.. 7.16 



9.49 .. 



13.11 





28 .. 5.7 



.. 6.55 



10.26 .. 



9.48 





Rises 



Souths. 



Sets. 



Age at Noon. 



Aug. h.m. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



d. h.m. 



Moon . . 



8 .. 5.50 



).m. . . 10.13 p.m. . . 



1.29 a.m 



.. 12 22.17 





18 .. 11.3 



. . 6.26 a.m. . . 



2.42 p.m 



22 22.17 





28 .. 8.45 



a.m. . . 2.14 p.m. . . 



7.33 p.m 



.'. 3 "s'j 









Position at Noon. 







Souths. Semi 



R.A. 



Dec. 





Aug. 



h.m. Diameter, h.m. 



O 1 



Mercury .. 8 .. 



11.17 a.m. . . 5.0" 



. . 8.23 



.. 15.26 N. 





18 .. 



10.49 . . 3.8" 



.. 8.35 



.. 17.33 





28 . 



11.5 .. 2.9" 



. . 9.31 



.. 15.54 



Venus . 



.. 8 . 



9.32 a.m. .. 20.5" 



. . 6.38 



.. 17.14 N. 





18 . 



9.12 .. 17.5" 



. . 6.57 



.. 17.38 





28 .. 



9.1 .. 15.2" 



. . 7.26 



.. 17.46 



Mars . 



.. 18 .. 



8.39 a.m. .. 2.4" 



. . 6.24 



.. 23.44 N. 



Jupiter 



.. 18 .. 



6.12 p.m. .. 17.8" 



.. 15.59 



.. 19.54 S. 



Saturn 



.. 18 .. 



8.7 p.m. .. 8.1" 



.. 17.54 



. . 22.34 S. 



Uranus 



.. 18 .. 



6.40 p.m. .. 1.8" 



.. 16.27 



.. 21.42 S. 



Neptune 



.. 18 .. 



8.9 a.m. .. 1.2" 



Moon's Phases 



h.m. 



.. 5.54 



.. 22.14 N. 

 h.m. 



1st Qr. 



.. Aug. 3 . 



. 4.46 p.m. Full . . 



Aug. 10 



.. 9.30 p.m. 



ird Qr. 



. . „ 17 



. 11.46 a.m. New . . 



„ 25 



. . 3.53 a.m. 



In peri°ee August 12th at 11 a.m. ; in apogee on 

 27th at 10.30 p.m. 



Meteors. 







h.m. 





July 23-Aug. 4 



. a-/3 Perseids Radiant R.A. 



3.12 Dec 



43° N. 



„ 30-Aug. 11 



.AAndromedes _, „ 



23.20 „ 



51 N. 



Aug. 5-16 



,k Cygnids .. „ „ 



19.28 „ 



53 N. 



„ 9-11 



. Perseids . . „ „ 



3.0 „ 



57 N. 



„ 21-25 



. o Draconids „ „ 



19.24 „ 



60 N. 



„ 21-Sept. 21 



.e Perseids .. ., „ 



4.8 „ 



37 N. 



„ 25 „ 22 



.■y Pegasids .. „ „ 



0.20 ,. 



10 N. 



The Perseids may be seen not only on the days 

 mentioned, but, though less frequently, for some 

 days before and after. The radiant point also is 

 not stationary, but travels eastwards. On July 25th 

 it is in E.A. lh. 45m. Dec. N. 53°, whilst according 

 to Mr. W. F. Denning bv August 18th it has 

 reached 3h. 41m., N. 59°. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon. 



Jupiter't 



Saturn*! 



Mars*t 



Venus* 



Mercury* 



9 a.m. 

 11 a.m. 



6 p.m. 

 10 a.m. 



5 p.m. 



Planet 1.22 N. 

 „ 0.50 S. 

 „ 2.55 N. 

 „ 1.49 S. 

 „ 4.59 N. 



Daylight. 



t Below English horizon. 



OCCULTATIONS. 



Magni- Disi- 

 Aug. Star. lude. appears. 



h.m. 

 13 .. KPiscium.. 5.0 .. 4.10 a.m. 

 19 . . i Tauri . . 4.7 . . 0.42 a.m. 



Angle 

 from 

 Vertex. 



,. 15 . 

 ,. 81 .. 



Angle 

 Re- from 

 appears. Vertex. 

 h.m. ° 



5.10 a.m. . . 236 

 1.24 a.m. . . 346 



The Sun still has interesting groups upon its 

 surface at frequent intervals. 



Mercury is in inferior conjunction with the 

 sun at 8 a.m. on August 1st, after which it is a 

 morning star all the month. This planet reaches 

 its greatest elongation, 18° 32' west, at 2 p.m. on 

 the 19th, when it rises an hour and three-quarters 

 before the sun, and is in good position for 

 observation. 



Venus is a morning star all the month, reaching 

 its greatest brilliancy at 8 a.m. on the 14th. It 

 rises at 2.20 a.m. on August 1st, and at 1.21 a.m. 

 on the 31st. 



Mars is also a morning star, rising about forty 

 minutes after midnight at the beginning of the 

 month, and about eight minutes after at the end. 

 Its appearance, with a 2-inch telescope, is little 

 more than that of a large star. 



Jupiter is an evening star all the month, but is 

 in poor position for observation. It comes to the 

 meridian half an hour before sunset on the 1st, and 

 sets at 11.35 p.m., whilst on the 31st it sets at 9.41. 

 It is almost stationary near the beautiful and easy 

 double star & Scorpii. 



Saturn is likewise an evening star southing 

 about two hours later than Jupiter, and so is in 

 better position for the observer. Its widely open 

 rings make it a splendid object. 



Uranus is nearly 2° farther south than Jupiter, 

 and comes to the meridian about twenty-eight 

 minutes later. 



The Eclipse of the Sun. — Further details of 

 the observations are now appearing. On Thursday, 

 June 28th, there was a joint meeting of the Eoyal 

 Society and the Royal Astronomical Society to 

 receive the preliminary reports of the Expeditions. 

 On the previous evening a number of accounts were 

 given at the meeting of the British Astronomical 

 Association. The Astronomer Royal, at Ovar, 

 described the corona as very distinctly inferior in 

 brightness, structure, and rays to the one seen in 

 the Indian eclipse — appearing, indeed, quite a 

 different object. Sir Norman Lockyer, at Santa 

 Pola, considered the corona a repetition of that of 

 1878. Mr. G-eoghegan, with Dr. Downing's party 

 at PJasencia, 140 miles south-west of Madrid, 

 observed the shadow- bands for about two minutes 

 before totality, and again for a similar time after. 

 Mr. Maunder's party were at Algiers, and the 

 photographs were very successful. A remarkable 

 feature, not previously noticed, was the presence 

 of dark rays in the corona, quite distinct from 

 mere rifts. Mercury was visible on many of the 

 photographs. Although some of the plates had a 

 longer exposure than those employed in India, 

 none of them exhibited so great an extension of 

 bright rays as were then portrayed. Mr. Crom- 

 melin, of the same party, observed the contacts on 

 a projected image formed by a 3-inch Dollond 

 achromatic, and for 20 seconds before totality 

 witnessed the phenomena known as Baily's Beads. 

 Mr. C. L. Brook, with the same party, observed 

 the shadow-bands, or, as he suggests, ripples, 

 three and a quarter minutes before totality. Mr. 

 Evershed went some 25 miles farther south, to 

 Mazafram, to get to the south edge of the limit of 

 totality to have a better opportunity of observing 

 the flash spectrum. He succeeded in obtaining 

 some good photographs notwithstanding that he 

 got just a little too far south. At Elche, Mr. E. 

 W. Johnson saw the shadow-bands for two minutes 

 before totality. Some of the observers note that 

 the longest ray reached nearly to Mercury, about 

 2° distant from the sun's centre. 



