154 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



CONDUCTED BY F. C. 



/Sgg 



Oct. 



Sitn ... 4 



'4 

 =4 



4 

 14 

 24 



^ferciiry 



Rises. 



. 6-7 a.m. 

 . 6.2+ 



. 6.4, ■ 



It. I ft. 



. 5.52 a.m. 

 . 2.51 p.m. 



DE.N'NETT. 



Fosiiioii at Noon. 



.•Sets. 

 h.tn. 



. .v8 

 ■ 4-47 

 SotttJis 

 h in. 

 . 11.28 a.m. 



. 8.13 p.m. 



. 4. 16 a.m. 



R.A. 



h.iti. 



12.41 . 



13-17 ■ 



i3'SS • 

 Sets 

 h 111. 



Dec 



11.47 

 Age at Noon. 

 d h. in. 



Jlai's 



Jupiter 



Saturn 



Uranus 



Neptune 



Oct 

 .. 4 



14 



24 

 ■ 4 



14 



-4 



■4 

 .14 



•H 

 .14 



.14 



S put Its 

 It.m. 

 11.59 a.m. 



0.21 p.m. 



o.-,S 



0.8 



0.15 



0.24 



4.52 p.m. 29 » 27 

 0.21 a.m. 9 16 46 

 0.29 p.m. 19 16 46 

 Position at Noon. 



Semi- 

 Diaiitcter 



. . 2.4" . . 

 . . 2.4" . . 



.. 2.S".. 

 . . 4.9" . 



2.0 . . 



H-,"!" • • 

 7-3" ■ . 

 1.7".. 



R.A. 

 h.iit. 

 12.51 

 13-52 

 ■4-51 

 1.3.0 

 '3-47 

 14-34 ■ 

 14-54 ■ 

 14.4S 

 17.14 

 16.15 

 .S.47 ■ 



Dec. 

 o ' 



4.28 s. 



11-39 

 17-43 

 5.11 S. 

 10.5 



14-35 

 16. ,54 S. 

 15.18 S. 



21.53 s. 



21.10 s 



22.8 N. 



1. 17 



3-42 



2.44 



4.1 a.m. - . 1.3" . . 



Moon's Ph.^ses. 

 //.;//. h.vi. 



New .. Oct. 4 7.14 p.m. 1st Qr, .. Oct. 12.. 6.10a.m. 

 F'ull .. ,, 18 . . 10.5 p.m. ^i-dQr. .. ., 26.. 9.40 a.m. 



In perigee, October i6th, al 10 a.m., distant 226,300 

 miles; and in apogee on 28th, at 5 a.m., distant 

 251,500 miles. 



Co.NJUNCTIO.N'S OF Pl.ANET.S WITH 'I'HE MoON. 



Oct. 



5 .. Mcrcuryt .- 5 a.m. .. planet 5.56 N. 

 5 -. Venus* .. 11 a.m. .. ,, 6.5 

 7 ■- Marst .. 6 a.m. .. ,, 3.15 

 7 ■■ Jupiter'-'' .. 10 a.m. .. ,, 4.14 

 .. Saturnt 2 a.m. . ,, 1.27 

 * Daylight. t Below English horizon. 



OCCUI.TATIONS AND NeAR ApI'ROACHES. 



Dis- A7is:h- Re- A7iglc 



Mag^ni- appears /7'ont appears from 



Sta?: iiidc. h.in. Vertex, h.in. I'erte.v. 



4 Sagittarii . .4.6 .. 7.3 p.m. .. 74 .. 8.10 p.m. .. 211 

 56 Tauri .-5.4.. 6.43 .-^05 .. Near Approach. 

 /C^ ,. ..4.6.. 8.37 .,118.. 9-3.S P-m. . . 303 

 ^ ., -■S..';-- 8.,38 ..M9 ■■ 9-34 - 282 

 ' .. _ .4. 4.. 6. 2 a.m. 321 .. Near Approach. 



Oct. 



The Sun is now in a very quiescent: state, faculae 

 appear from time to time, iDut dark spots are much 

 less frequent. 



Mercury is in superior conjunction early in the 

 month, after which this planet is an evening star, but 

 it is not well placed for observation. At ii a.m. on 

 October loth Mercury is in conjunction with ^'enus, 

 the former being 23' to the south. At 4 p.m. on 25th 

 it is in conjunction with, and 2° 20' south of, Jupiter. 



Venus is an evening star all the month, but never 

 well placed for observation. At 6 p.m. on October 

 26th, Venus will be only 6' north of the third mag- 

 nitude star a Librae, and at i a.m. on 30th she 

 will be inconjunction with Jupiter, which will be only 

 33' to the north. 



M.ARs and JufiTER are also evening stars, too near 

 the sun for observation. At 5 p.m. on nth Mars is 

 in conjuction with, and i' n' south of, Jupiter. 



S.vriiRN and Ur.-\nus are too clo.se to the sun for 

 observation. 



Neptune is a morning star to be observed before 

 sunrise. 



Meteors may be specially looked for on October 

 13th, 15th, 17th, 1 8th, 22nd, 24th, and 29th. 



Meteor. — "On the night of Sunday, the 27th 

 of August, at 10.15 I ^^* ^ ^'^fy brilliant Meteor, 

 resembling a fireball, pass through Auriga, not far 

 from Capella, towards Perseu.s. The night being 

 cloudy its direction could not be accurately made out. 

 In passing from cloud to cloud it was visible about 

 four seconds, and it moved rather slowly. There was 

 no sign of its being extinguished as it passed out of 

 sight." J. P. H. Boileau, M.D., Lieut. -Colonel, 

 A. M.S. Trowbridge, Wilts, August 30th, 1899. 



Potsdam Observatory. — On August 26th the 

 new cupola on the Telegraphenberg, with its great 

 refractor was formally inaugurated in the presence of 

 the Emperor William. 



A New Minor Planet was discovered by M. 

 Jean Mascart, of the Paris observatory, on the 26th 

 of August. 



Holmes' Comet is too faint to be seen, except by 

 very large apertures. Its orbit is more nearly circular 

 than that of any other known comet, and lies wholly 

 between those of Jupiter and Mars. It is thought 

 that its abnormal brightness at the time of its original 

 discovery, must have been owing to some catastrophe. 

 When re-discovered by Perrine, on June nth, with' 

 the 36-inch Lick achromatic, it was very faint and 

 round, with little central condensation. Its diameter 

 was about 30". Notwithstanding its cometary appear- 

 ance, the orbit is more nearly allied to those ot the 

 minor planets. 



Polaris. — A paragraph is being circulated that 

 this star has been discovered by Professor Campbell, 

 with the spectroscope attached to the 35-inch Lick 

 lefractor, to have a close companion, which, together 

 with its primary, make a revolution round the com- 

 mon centre of gravity in four days. 



The Paris Observatory. — The annual report 

 for 1898 contains as a frontispiece, a fine heliogravure 

 of the moon taken from a plate of September 19th, 

 1894, obtained by M. M. Loewy and Puiseux, with 

 the equatorial coude of the Paris Observatory. 



A new Equatorial head to carry telescopes up 

 to 3i inches aperture, has been introduced by Mr. 

 J. H. Steward. It can be set to suit any latitude, 

 almost from the Equator to the pole. It is moderate 

 in price and appears to be very well constructed, and 

 has a revolving hour circle. The same makers have 

 also introduced a capital driving clock for use with 

 this, or almost any, equatorial stand. It is very neat 

 in appearance, efficient in use, excellent in workman- 

 ship and moderate in price. There is also an 

 adjustment enablingils employment overa considerable 

 range of latitude, .so that it would not break down, as 

 did the clock taken by the Ru.s.sian eclipse expedition 

 to Nova Zembla, in 1S96. 



Wray's SciENCE-Gossii' Telescope. — We are 

 plea.sed to announce that Science-Gossip has 

 acquired one of Mr. Wray's best telescopes for the 

 use of the Departmental Editor for Astronomy. It 

 will in future be known as Wray's Science-Gossip 

 Telescope, and be solely used in the interests of this 

 Journal. We hope from time to time to give reports 

 of the work done by this instrument, which cannot 

 fail to be of more than passing interest. It has an 

 object glass of 3 inches clear aperture, eyepieces, of 75 

 and 130 diameters, and also a star diagonal. The 

 preliminary trials encourage the hope that it will in 

 no way lall below the standard of high excellence 

 borne by the work of this maker. It is mounted on 

 a well-made alt-azimuth .stand, and is figured upon 

 page V of our advertisement columns. 



