280 



SCIEXCE-GOSSIP. 



CONDUCTED BY F. C. DENNETT. 



Position at Soon. 



1901 nises. 

 Feb. h.m. 

 ,. 4 .. 7.36 a.m. 

 14 .. 7.18 a.m. 

 24 .. 6.58 a.m. 



Feb. 

 .. 4 . 



14 

 24 



Mercury.. 



Venus 

 Mars 



Jupiter . . 

 Saturn .. 

 Uranus . . 

 Neptune . . 



Rises, 

 h.m. 



6.23 p.m. 

 3.50 a.m. 

 9.10 a.m. 



Sets. 



h.m. 

 , 4.51 p.m. 



5.10 p.m. 

 . 5.28 p.m. 



Souths. 



h.m. 

 . 0.25 ajn. 

 . 8.0 a.m. 

 . 5.1 p.m. 



R.A. 



Dec. 



h.m. ° ' 



21.10 .. 16.20 S. 



21.50 .. 13.9 



22.28 .. 9.36 



Sets. Age at Xoon. 

 h.m. d. h.m. 

 7.24 a.m. . . 14 21.24 

 0.11 pjn. . . 24 21.24 

 .. 5 9.15 



4 

 14 . 

 24 . 



4 

 14 

 24 



4 

 14 

 24 

 14 

 14 

 14 

 14 



.South.'. 



h.m. 



0.55 p.m. 



1.18 p.m. 



1.11 p.m. 

 10.47 a.m. 

 11.0 a.m. 

 11.11 a.m. 



1.56 a.m. 



1.5 a.m. 



0.11 a.m. 



8.48 a.m. 



9.20 a.m. 

 , 7.26 a.m. 



8.9 p.m. 



Semi- 

 diameter. 



. 2-6" .. 

 . 3-1" .. 

 . 4-1" .. 

 . 5-4" .. 

 . 5-3" .. 

 . 5-2" .. 

 . 6-5" .. 

 . 6-8" .. 

 . 6-9" .. 

 . 15-6" .. 

 . 7T" .. 

 . 1-8" .. 

 . 1-2" .. 



Position at Soon. 

 R.A. Dec. 



h.m. ° ' 



21.51 

 22.53 

 23.26 

 19.42 

 20.35 

 21.26 

 10.50 

 10.38 

 10.23 

 18.23 

 18.55 

 17.1 

 5.45 



14.47 S. 



7.13 S. 



1.5 S. 

 2L36 S. 

 19.21 S. 

 16.11 S. 

 12.2 N. 

 13.25 N. 

 14.51 N. 

 23.6 S. 

 22.17 5. 

 22.45 S. 

 22.11 N. 



Full .. Feb. 

 New . . ,. 



Moon's Phases. 



h.m. 

 . 3.30 p.m. 3rd Qr. Feb. 11 

 . 2.45 a.m. 1st Qr. .. 25 



In apogee February 9th at 7 a.m. ; ii 

 •on 21st at 3 a.m. 



METEORS 



h.m. 

 Feb. 5-16 .. a AurUrids Radiant R.A. 4.56 

 „ 15-20 . . a Serpentids „ ,, 15.44 



■-• 



17.32 



h.m. 



6.12 p.m. 

 6.38 p.m 



perigee 



Dec. 43 N. 



ll N. 



., 36 K. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon. 



Feb. 5 

 ., 15 

 ., 15 

 .. 17 

 ., 20 



Mars 



Jupiter 



Saturnt 



Tennsf 



Mereurv* 



10 p.m. 

 5 a.m. 

 7 p.m. 

 9 p.m. 

 1 p.m. 



Planet 9.54 N. 

 2.51 S. 

 3.3 S. 

 5.49 S. 

 3.29 S. 



Daylight. 



f Below English horizon. 



The only Occnltations visible are those of stars 

 below 55 magnitude. 



The Sun should be watched for occasional out- 

 breaks of activity. 



Mercury as an evening star is fairly placed for 

 observation after the first few days of the month. 

 It reaches its greatest eastern elongation. 18° 6', at 

 10 p.m. on 19th, on which day it does not set until 

 1 h. 46 m. after the sun. The greater part of the 

 month it is in the constellation Aquarius, but after 

 the 20th in Pisces. At about 5 o'clock on this 

 evening Mercury may be found about 5° below the 

 thin crescent moon. 



Venus is a morning star, badly situated for 

 •observation. 



Mars, being in opposition at <5 a.m. on February 

 22nd. is as well placed for observation as he will be 

 this year. At 8 a.m. on the 25th he is in the part 

 of his orbit most distant from the sun : as a con- 

 sequence his apparent diameter is very small, 

 being only 13-8" at the best. Notwithstanding, he 

 is a beautiful little globe to study. 



Jupiter. Saturn, and Uranus are too low 

 down and too near the sun for observation. 



Neptune may be looked for as an 8th mag- 

 nitude star, retrograding along a very short path, 

 about 2° north-west of the 4th magnitude star x' 

 Orionis. 



The minor planet Vesta is in opposition on 

 February 1st, when it appears as a star slightly 

 above 7th magnitude. Its nearness to £ Cancri. 

 5th magnitude, on February 4th, and to the pretty 

 double star 2 1311 on the 7th. should assist in 

 its identification. 



Comet c 1900. — On December 20th. M. Giacobini, 

 of Nice, discovered a comet moving in a south- 

 easterly direction in the southern part of the 

 constellation Aquarius. 



New Minor Planets. — Whilst photographing 

 Eros and its surrounding stars. Professor W. K. 

 Brooks, of Geneva. U.S.A., discovered three new 

 planets within 1° of Eros, one exceeding it in 

 magnitude. On December 20th. Professor Max 

 Wolf, of Heidelberg, also observed two more. 



Quito Observatory. — M. F. Gonnessia, of 

 the Lyons Observatory, has been appointed to act 

 as director for five years, during the work of the 

 French Commission engaged in re-nieasuring the 

 arc of the meridian in Peru. 



Lick Observatory. — According to '• Science," 

 Mr. D. O. Mills, of New York, has promised about 

 24.000 dollars to defray the cost of an expedition 

 either to South America or Australia, to study, 

 under good conditions, the motions of stars in the 

 line of sight. 



Mars. — During the past few weeks some of the 

 newspapers have given much prominence to an 

 observation by a Mr. Douglass at Lowell Obser- 

 vatory. Flagstaff. Arizona. A bright patch was 

 observed for over an hour on the border of the 

 Icarium Mare, when it disappeared. M. C. Flam- 

 marion is doubtless right in ascribing it to the 

 reflection from a cloud. It is by no means the 

 first time such an observation has been made on 

 the planet Mars. 



Jupiter. — The most recent measures are those 

 by Dr. T. J. J. See with the 26-in. Washington 

 Eefractor. Taking the solar parallax as 8""796, 

 the equatorial diameter is 89.919 miles, and the 

 polar 84,111 miles. The diameters of the larger 

 moons are said to be I. — 1,574 miles ; II., 1,461 

 miles ; III.. 3.187 miles and IV.. 2.884 miles. 



A Useful Blotter. — We have received from 

 the Scottish Provident Institution the fourth issue 

 of their blotting-book, containing a chart of the 

 heavens looking north and south from London at 

 10 p.m. on the 1st of each month. The stars are in 

 gold on a blue ground, and the positions of the 

 Moon and Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are also 

 marked. A description is given by Mr. W. B. 

 Blaikie. which makes the whole quite a handbook 

 for studying the face of the sky. It i; interesting 

 to note, that commercial institutions find a scien- 

 tific advertisement efficiently attractive. 



