ISO 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



CONDUCTED BY F. C. DENNETT. 



Sun 



/goo 

 Jan. 



Jan. 



Mercury 



Vemts 



Mars 



Jupiter 



Saturn 



Uranus 



Neptune 



Rises, 

 h.m, 

 . 8.7 a.m. 



■ 8-3 



■ 7-54 

 Kise-i 



h.m. 

 . S.32 a.m. 

 . 1.20 p.m. 

 . . 0.3 p.m. 



Sets. 

 h.m. 

 4.1 p.m. 

 4-i3 

 4-3° 

 Souths 

 h.m. 



0.58 p.m. 

 . 9.46 p.m. 

 . 5.14 a.m. 



Jan. 



Souths Semi' 



h.m. Diameter 

 10.34 a.m. 



Position at Noon. 

 R.A. Dec. 

 h.m. ° ' 



18.51 . . 22.56 S. 

 19.35 -■ 2I -4° 

 20.17 •• J 9-43 

 Sets Age at Noon. 

 h.m. d. h. m. 



5.33 p.m. o 22 8 

 . 5.17 a.m. 10 22 8 

 . 9.47 a.m. 20 22 8 

 Positioti at Noon. 



10. 55 

 11.22 



2.17 



0.13p.m. . 



8.40 a.m. . 

 10.29 a.m. . 



9. 11 a.m. . 

 10.10 p.m. . 



2.9" . 

 2.6" . 

 2.4" . 

 5-8" - 

 5-9" - 

 6.2" . 

 2.0" . 



i 5 . 2 " . 

 7.0" . 



1.7" . 



1.2" . 



R.A. 

 h.m. 



17.21 

 18.22 . 

 19.28 

 20.45 

 21.34 



'22.22 



'9-39 

 16.6 



I7.S6 

 ■6-37 

 5-38 



Dec. 



O ' 



22.14 S. 



23-45 

 23.21 

 19.51 s. 

 16.13 



11.51 



22.30 a. 



20.1 s. 



22.27 s. 



22. 1 S. 



22.4 N. 



Moon's Phases. 



New , 

 Full . 

 New . 



Jan. 



15 

 3i 



1.52 p.m. 

 7.8 p.m. 

 1.23 a. nil 



istQr. . 

 jrdQr. 



h.m. 



Jan. 8 .. 5.40 a.m. 

 „ 23 ..11.53 p.m. 



In perigee, January 3rd, at 5 p.m.; in apogee on 10th, 

 at 5 p.m. ; and in perigee again on 31st, at 

 12 p.m. 



Meteors. 



h.m. 

 Jan. 2- 3... Quadrantids... Radiant R.A. 15.20 Dec. 52°N. Rich. 



,, 14-20... X Cygnids ... „ ,, 19.40 ,, 53 N. 

 ,, 18-28.. .0 Coronids ... ,, ,, 15.32 ,, 31 N. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon. 



Jan. 



9 p.m 

 4 p.m. 

 1 p.m. 



Marst 

 Venusf 

 Jupitert 



Saturn* . . » a.m. . . ,, 



Mercury* .. 3 p.m. .. „ 



Mars+ . . 10 p.m. . . ,, 



* Daylight. + Below English horizon 



Occultations and Near Approach 



planet 3.8 S. 



,, 6.0 S. 



„ 2.3 N. 



0.2 S. 



., 5-44 S. 



5-6 s. 



Jan. 



Star 



Dzs- 

 Magni- appears 

 tudc. h.m. 



Angle 

 from 



Vertex. 



Re- A ngle 



appears from 



h.m. Vertex. 



2 9S 



205 



178 



. 196 



2 8 S 



,6. .19 Piscium .. 5.2.. 7.12 p.m. .. 63.. 8.10 p.m. 



,10. .T 2 Arietls ..5.2.. 7.1 p.m. 49.. 7.59p.m. 



11 . ./C 1 Tauri . . . . 4.6 . . 10.27 p.m. . . 90 . . 11.34 P-" 1 - 



11 . .K z Tauri . . .. 5.5 .. 10.40 p.m. . . 115 .. 11.23 p.m. 



1 7 . . ^ C.incri .. .. 4.3 .. 5.17 a.m. ..136 .. 5.50 a.m. 



24..B.A.C. 4722 .. 5.5 .. 3.35 a.m. ..158 .. 4.45 a.m. 



The Sun still has small outbreaks at intervals. 

 At 6 a.m. on January 2nd the earth is in the part of 

 its orbit nearest to the sun-. 



Mercury is a morning star all the month, but 

 from its great southern declination is poorly placed 

 for observation. At 1 a. m. on January 8th Mercury 

 and Saturn are in conjunction, the former being 51' 

 to the south, but both are below the British horizon. 



Venus is an evening star all the month, daily 

 getting into better position for observation. 



Mars being in conjunction with the sun at 5 a.m. 

 on 1 6th, is too close to the sun for observation. 



Jupiter is a morning star all the month, but its. 

 great south declination militates against successful 

 observation. 



Saturn and Uranus are both morning stars, but 

 not well placed for observation. 



Neptune is well situated near £ Tauri. 

 Yerkes Observatory. — Professor E. B. Frost, 

 of this observatory, has had a grant of 500 dollars- 

 from the Rumford Committee of the American 

 Academy of Arts towards the construction of a new 

 spectrograph, especially designed for the determination' 

 of stellar velocities in the line of sight. 



Nathaniel E. Green. — Astronomy has suffered 

 a great loss in the death of Mr. Green, a past- 

 president and one of the founders of the British 

 Astronomical Association. His delineations of Mars 

 and Jupiter are some of the finest in existence. The 

 former were made at Madeira, in 1877, with a With 

 Newtonian, and are really faithful drawings. Mr. 

 Green had been a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society since 1875. 



Harvard College Observatory before many 

 weeks have passed, will be furnished with a photo- 

 graphic telescope of I2in. aperture, and having the 

 abnormally long focal length of 100ft. The requisite 

 funds have been found by anonymous donors. The 

 image of the moon, without enlargement, will be 

 about loin. 



A New Minor Planet has been discovered 

 photographically, by Mr. Coddington, of the Lick 

 Observatory, and sufficient observations were made 

 during October and November to determine its 

 orbit. 



The New Century will not, of course, commence 

 until January 1st, 1901. The present new year 

 beginning the last year of the century. 



Stonyhurst College Observatory. — We have 

 received from Father Sidgreaves the report of the 

 meteorological and magnetical work carried on at 

 this observatory, as well as of that of St. Ignatius 

 College, Malta. The meteorological and astro- 

 nomical work at this observatory is very well known 

 for its high character. 



A Public Observatory. — The, executors of the 

 late Canon Cross, of Appleby, having offered a 

 valuable set of Astronomical instruments, the Lincoln- 

 shire County Committee have consented to allow an 

 observatory to be built in the keep of old Lincoln 

 Castle. A public subscription, it is hoped, will 

 defray the cost of erection and maintenance. The 

 Committee are to be asked to receive the whole in 

 trust for the County. 



"The Heavens at a Glance." — We have re- 

 ceived a copy of this useful Card Calendar, for 1900, 

 from its compiler, Mr. Arthur Mee, F.R.A.S., of 

 Cardiff. The price is only 7d., post free. It is most 

 handy for ready reference. 



Edinburgh City Observatory, under the 

 direction of Mr. William Peck, is thrown open on 

 certain nights in the week to visitors, and thousands 

 have paid it a visit, both to see it arrangements 

 and to learn something of Astronomy and its 

 methods. 



A Russian Mountain Observatory is to be 

 erected, probably in the Crimea or Caucasus, under 

 the auspices of the Russian Astronomical Society.* 



The Lunar Eclipse on December 16th and 17th, 

 was well seen in London, happening when the moon 

 was high in the heavens and the sky fortunately clear. 

 The eclipse was by no means a dark one, and the 

 strong copper colour of the shaded portion of the 

 disc was very noticeable. 



