SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



3i3 





CONDUCTED BY FRANK C 



. DENNETT. 



Position at Noon. 





1899. Rises. Sets. 



R.A. 







Mar. h.m. h.m. 



h.m. 



Dec. 



Sun 



. 8 ... 6.32 a.m. ... 5.50 p. m 



... 23.15 .. 



. 4° 5i' S. 





18 ... 6.10 ... 6.7 



... 23.52 .. 



• o° 55' 





28 ... 5.46 ... 6.24 



... 0.28 .. 



. 3° i'N. 





Rises. Souths. 



Sets. / 



ge at Ncoih 



Mar. h.m. li.in. 



h.m. 



d. h. in. 



Moon 8 



... 4.37 a. in. ... 9.3 a.m. ... 



1.39 p.m. 



26 2 28 



18 



... 9 13 ••■ 5-47P-m. ... 



1. 31 a.m. 



6 16 7 



28 



... 8.27 p.m. ... 0.31 a.m. ... 



5-37 



16 16 7 







Position at Noon. 





Souths. Semi 



R.A. 







Mar. h.m. Diaviett 



r. h.m. 



Dec. 



Mercury 



8 ... 0.42 p.m. ... 2" 6 



... 23.46 . 



. 2° 2l' S. 





18 ... 1.7 ... 3" 1 



... 0.51 . 



. 6° 39' N. 





28 ... 1.7 ... 4" 1 



... 1.30 . 



. 12° 36' 



Venus 



8 ... 9.14 a.m. ... 9" 7 



... 20.18 . 



. 18 13' S. 





18 ... 9 21 ... 8" 9 



... 21.5 . 



. 16 4' 





28 ... 9.28 ... 8" 2 



... 21.51 . 



. 13 9' 



Mars 



.. 8 ... 823 p.m. ... 5" 2 



... 7.28 . 



. 25 c 20' N. 





iS ... 7-51 •■■ 4" 7 



... 7-35 •• 



. 2 4 3 47' 





28 ... 7.22 ... 4" 3 



... 7-45 ■ 



• 2 +° 5' „ 



Jupiter 



.. 18 ... 2.48 a.m. ... 19" 6 



... 14-30 . 



. 13 18' S. 



Saturn 



.. 18 ... 5.50 ... 7" 7 



... 173 2 •• 



. 21° 51' S. 



Uranus . 



.. 18 ... 4-43 - 1" 8 



... 16.25 .. 



. 21° 33' S. 



Neptune . 



.. 18 ... 5.41 p.m. ... 1" 3 



... 526 .. 



. 21° 55' N, 





Moon's Phases. 







h.m. 





h.m. 



l>d Qt. - 



Mar. 5 ... 4.7 a.m. New 



.. Mar. 11 



.. 7.53 p.m. 



isi Qr. .. 



,, 19 ... 3.24 a.m. Full 



• • ■> 27 



.. 6.18 a.m. 



In perigee March 9th, at 10 p.m., distant 225,100 

 miles ; and in apogee on 21st, at 7 p.m., distant 

 251,600 miles. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon. 



Mar. 



Jupiter I 



Satnrnt 



Venus*t 



Merctirj j- 



Marst 



Jupiterl 



6 p.m. 



7 p.m. 

 2 p.m. 

 9 p.m. 

 5 a.m. 

 9 p.m. 



planet 5 45' N. 



„ 2° 33' N. 



,, o° 56' S. 



,. 5° 30' S. 



,, 4 39' N. 



5° 44' N. 



* Daylight. 1 Below English horizon. 

 Occultations : 



Dis- Angle Re- Angle 



Magui- appears. from appears, from 



Mar. Star. hide. h.m. Vertex, h.m. Vertex. 



20 ... 56 Geminoium 5 ...5.32 p.m. ...152° ... 6.50p.m. ... 275° 



26 ... e Leonis 5.1 ...4.52 a.m. ... 52" ... 5.45 a.m. t... 27; 



The Sun is seldom quite free from spots, but 

 frequently they are very small. At 8 p.m. on the 

 20"h the Sun enters Aries, and spring is said to 

 commence. 



Mercury is an evening star all the month, 

 reaching its greatest elongation (18 36') east at 

 11 p.m. on the 24th, at which time it does not set 

 until nearly two hours after the sun. Its path lies 

 almost wholly through the southern portion of the 

 constellation Pisces. 



Venus is brilliant in the south-eastern heavens 

 in the early morning, rising, in the middle of the 

 month, about a quarter to five. It is in Sagit- 

 tarius at the beginning of the month, but soon 

 travels into Capricornus ; is a little south of $, 

 a wide-double 3rd-magnitude star, on the 8th, and 

 reaches Aquarius at the end of March. 



Mars is rapidly decreasing in apparent diameter, 

 but is in good position all the evening. Situated 

 in Gemini he traverses a short path near the 

 4th - magnitude, double star k, and is closely 



north of it about the 20th and 21st. Its northern 

 polar cap may be readily seen with a very small 

 instrument. 



Jupiter travels along a short retrograde path a 

 little north-west of the 3rd-magnitude, widely- 

 double star o Librae. It rises about 11 p.m. at 

 the beginning of the month, and at the end rather 

 over two hours earlier. 



Saturn is a little east of the 4th-magnitude £ 

 Ophiuchi all through March, but does not rise 

 until just before 1 at the end of the month. 



Uranus precedes Saturn by about one hour, 

 being near the 5th-magnitude star w Ophiuchi. 



Neptune, from its high declination north, may 

 still be observed. 



Meteors should be especially looked for during 

 the first five days of March and about the 24th. 



Hamburg Observatory.— Owing to ill-health, 

 Professor G. Riimker has had to resign the 

 directorate, and will be succeeded by Professor 

 E. Kiistner, who, since 1S91, has been Director of 

 Bonn Observatory. 



Vatican Observatory has a new director in 

 Father Rodriguez de 1'rada. 



Herr Witt's Planet is to be known as Eros. 

 The photographic plates at Harvard have been 

 so successfully searched that this tiny planet has 

 been found on some taken so far back as Decem- 

 ber, 1893. These have enabled Professor S. C. 

 Chandler even more accurately to determine the 

 elements of its orbit. Its period is 643- 1 days ; its 

 mean distance from the sun is i'45<Bi that of the 

 earth. As its eccentricity is 0-223, us distance 

 varies between 1*13334 ar >d 17S286, and its nearest 

 approach to our earth 0-133, or about 12 millions 

 of miles. The next opposition as favourable as 

 1894 w iH De in 1931. Until then that of 1900 will 

 be the best. 



The Royal Astronomical Society is to have 

 Professor George Howard Darwin, M.A., F.R.S., 

 LL.D., D.Sc, second son of Charles Darwin, for 

 its President. Mr. F. W. Dyson, M.A., of the 

 Royal Observatory, is to be the Secretary. Its 

 gold medal has been awarded to Mr. Frank 

 McClean for his photographic survey of stars in 

 both hemispheres, as well as other work. 



University of Aberdeen. — A retired school- 

 master, Rev. G. Proctor, has bequeathed £3,000 

 as a contribution towards the erection of an 

 observatory for King's College, Aberdeen. 



Pegasi. — 77 Pegasi, a star of 3-1 magnitude, is 

 situated R.A. 22h. 38m., N. Dec. 29 41', in other 

 words, about 6° north-west of the top right-hand 

 corner of the " square of Pegasus." In 1897 Pro- 

 fessor Campbell found this object approaching the 

 sun at a mean rate of 43 kilometres per second, 

 whilst in 1898 it was receding 162 kilometres in 

 the same time. Herr Eelopolsky, of Pulkova, 

 corroborates these determinations very closely, 

 making the two speeds 4-8 and 16-9 kilometres 

 respectively. 



Spectrum of the Corona. — The wave length 

 of the coronal line known as i,474K has usually 

 been given as 531679. Mr. Fowler has, however, 

 been investigating the photographs taken by him- 

 self and Mr. Shackleton, and believes its wave 

 length is really 5,3037, or slightly more refran- 

 gible than was supposed. Sir Norman Lockyer, on 

 November 24th, read the paper before the Royal 

 .Society, and said these results must not be 

 regarded as final. 



