86 



SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



CONDUCTED BY F. C. DENNETT. 











Position at Noon. 





1901 



Rises. 



Sets. 



R.A. 



Bee. 





Aug. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



h.m. s. 



o / ii 





. 3 .. 



4.28 a.m. 



. . 7.44 p.m. . 



8.51.29 . 



17.38.11 N. 





13 .. 



4.43 a.m. 



. . 7.27 p.m. . 



9.29.41 . 



14.49.5 N. 





23 .. 



4.59 a.m. 



.. 7.6 p.m. . 



.10. 6.58 . 



11.36.21 N. 







Rises. 



Souths. 



Sets. 



Aae at Noon. 



Aug. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



d. h.m. 





3 .. 



8.41 p.m 



.. 2.10 a.m. . 



. 8.17 a.m 



. .. 11 13.50 





13 .. 



3.48 a.ni 



..11.16 a.m. . 



. 6.31 p.m 



. .. 28 13.50 





23 .. 



2.40 p.m 



.. 6.55 p.m. . 



. 11. 9 p.m 



... 9 3.33 











Position at Noon. 







South 



i. Semi- 



R.A. 



Dec. 





An 



s. h.m. 



diameter, h.m.s. 



O • II 





.. 3 



. 10.44-9 



a.m. .. 3-7" . 



. 7.30.24 . 



.20.17.53 N. 





13 



..11. 7-8 



a.m. .. 2-9" . 



. 8.32.46 . 



19.35.41 N. 





23 



..11.47-8 



a.m. . . 2"5" . 



. 9.52. 7 . 



.14.46.51 N. 





3 



.. 1.46-8 



p.m. .. 5-6" . 



.10.32.15 . 



.10.46.38 N. 





13 



.. 1.52-4 



p.m. .. 5-8" . 



11.17.19 . 



5.56.39 N. 





23 



.. 1.57-0 



p.m. .. 6-1" . 



12. 1.21 . 



0.50.51 N. 



Mars 



.. 13 



.. 3.42-3 



p.m. .. 2-6" . 



.13. 7.25 . 



. 7.16.28 S. 



Jupiter 



.. 13 



.. 8.49-7 



p.m. ..20-5" . 



.18.16. 8 . 



.23.27.42 S. 



Saturn 



.. 13 



.. 9.19-4 



p.m. .. 8 - 3" . 



.18.45.56 . 



.22.37.31 S. 



Uranus 



.. 13 



.. 7.19-8 



p.m. .. 1-9" . 



.16.45.54 . 



22.23.14 S. 



Neptune 



.. 13 



.. 8.39-1 



a.m. .. 1-2" . 



. 6. 3.15 . 



22.17.48 N. 







Moon's Phases 











h.m. 





h.m. 



3rd Qr. 



. . Aug 



7 .. 8. 



2 a.m. New 



. Aug. 14 



.. 8.27 a.m. 



1st Qr. 



•• » 



22 .. 7. 



52 a.m. Full 



.. „ 29 



.. 8.21p.m. 



In perigee August 6th at 8 a.m. ; and in apogee 

 on 20th at 10 p.m. 



Meteors. 



uly 23 to Aug. 4 a-/3 Perseids Radiant 

 Aug. 9 to 11 (') Perseids „ 



„ 5 to 16 k Cygnids „ 



„ 21 to 25 o Draconids „ 



„ 21 to Sep. 21 e Perseids „ 



„ 25 „ 22 y Pegasids „ 



(') This shower lasts nearly a month, but the radiant moves 

 for some distance amongst the stars ; on July 25th it is situated 

 R.A. lh. 44m., Deo. 53° N , whilst on August 18th it has reached 

 R.A. 3h. 40m., Dee. 59° N. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon. 



h.m. 



o 



R.A. 3.8 



Dec. 43 N. 



3.0 



„ 57 N. 



„ 18.28 



„ 53 N. 



„ 18.24 



„ 60 N. 



„ 4 8 



,. 37 N. 



„ 0.20 



„ 10 N. 



13 .. 



.. Mercury* . 



. 7 a.m. . 



. Planet 5.48 N 



16 .. 



. . Venusf 



. 11 p.m. 



„ 5.37 N. 



19 .. 



. . Mars*t . 



. 7 a.m. 



2. 3 N. 



25 .. 



.. Jupiter*f . 



. 5 a.m. 



„ 3.45 S. 



25 .. 



. . Saturn* 



. 6 p.m. 



„ 3.42 S. 



Daylight. 



t Below English horizon. 



Occult ations and Near Approach. 



Aug. Star. 



Magni- 

 tude. 



A. Piscium 4-7 

 S ., 4-6 



c l Capricorni 5-2 



3d .. k Aquarii 



-v-5 



Dis- 

 appears, 

 h.m. 



8.42 p.m. . 

 2.39 a.m. . 

 0.54 a.m. . 

 0.29 a.m. . 



Angle 

 from 

 Vertex. 



18 

 99 

 68 

 23 



Angle 



Re- from 



appears. Vertex. 



h.m. ° 



. near approach. 



, 3.47 a.m. .. 225 



, 1.59 a.m. .. 199 



. 1.19 a.m. .. 262 



The Sun. — That which remains of the group 

 mentioned last month again crossed the disc be- 

 tween June 14th and 27th. The outbreak of a spot 

 group far from the equator in the southern spot 



zone on June 22nd or 23rd may indicate the end of 

 the sun-spot minimum. 



Mercury is a morning star rising in the N.E. 

 an hour and a half before the Sun at the begin- 

 ning of August, the interval decreasing to 1 hour 

 in the middle of the month. It is at greatest 

 western elongation 19° 23' at 2 p.m. on 2nd, and 

 at 9 p.m. on 27th is again in superior conjunction 

 with the Sun. 



Venus is an evening star in Leo at the begin- 

 ning of the month, entering Virgo in the middle. 

 It sets in the west about an hour after the Sun. 



Mars is an evening star in Virgo just north of 

 Spica on the 18th, but too small for useful study,, 

 setting less than three hours after the Sun. 



Jupiter is still a fine object, setting about 

 1.40 a.m. at the beginning of the month and at- 

 11.30 p.m. at the end. A very interesting object 

 until 10 p.m. on August 8th, I. and its shadow 

 and also the shadow of III. being in transit. On 

 15th I. enters on the disc at 9.31 p.m., III. passes 

 off at 10.26. and the shadow of I. enters on at 

 10.30. On 17th IV. passes off at 8.32, and on 31st 

 the shadow of I. comes on the disc at 8.50, and at 

 9.56 I. passes off. 



Saturn is still a beautiful object just east of 

 Jupiter. 



Uranus is too low down for observation, pre- 

 ceding the brighter planets by about two hours. 



Neptune rises about 1.28 at the beginning of 

 the month and some two hours earlier at the end,, 

 in the north-eastern sky near by r\ Geminorum. 



Solar Beam. — On June 26th, from the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Elephant and Castle, Walworth, a 

 fine beam of a rosy tint was observed about 8.40 

 for several minutes. The vertical column rose- 

 above the Sun's place to an altitude of about 35°,. 

 and had a width of about 2°. There was a little- 

 cirrus cloud about of the same reddish colour. — 

 F. C. D. 



[An anonymous observer at West Hampstead 

 observed the beam from 7.55 p.m. until 9.46 p.m.,. 

 but nine minutes later found it to have disap- 

 peared.] 



Sir Cuthbert Edgar Peek, Bart., of Rousdon, 

 Devonshire, died on July 6th, at the early age of 

 forty-six. His health had been bad for some time, 

 finally culminating in congestion of the brain. He- 

 succeeded his father, the first baronet, in 1898. 

 The Rousdon Observatory has long been known for 

 its splendid work with variable stars, the able 

 assistant being Mr. Charles Grover. The observa- 

 tory was founded in 1884, and is well furnished,, 

 the principal instrument being a Merz achromatic- 

 telescope, 6-4 inch aperture, equatorially mounted. 

 The New Star in Perseus during its period 

 of variation proved to be a most interesting object- 

 When at its maximum the continuous spectrum 

 was brighter, but when at its minimum the con- 

 tinuous spectrum paled, the bright-line spectrum,, 

 however, was intensified and contained one or two 

 lines not noticed at the time of maximum. Such 

 are the important observations made at Stonyhurst 

 College. It may be interesting to mention that the 

 beautiful photograph reproduced on p. 323, Vol. 

 VII., S.-G.. was obtained with a 4-inch Cooke tinder 

 attached to the 15-inch equatorial telescope. The 

 object-glass was covered by a 4-inch objective prism 

 supplied by Mr. T. Thorp, and the spectral line 

 allowed to fall directly upon the photographic 

 plate, a series of the lines side by side being ob- 

 tained to give sufficient width to the spectrum. 



