SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



87 



Distortion or the Sun's Disc. — While ex- 

 amining the sun, shortly before setting, through 

 my friend Mr. C. A. Briggs' telescope, from the 

 garden at Rock House, Lynmouth, North Devon, 

 one evening in the middle of July, the disc had 

 the appearance on the upper left limb of having 

 several large protuberances at the edge. This was 

 doubtless the result of atmospheric interference, 

 though the distortions remained in place until the 

 sun had set below the sea. — John T. Carrington. 



M. C. M. Gaudibert, the great French seleno- 

 graphical observer, who was born March 4, 1823, 

 died on June 9 at Vaison, Vaucluse. His telescope 

 was an 8^ in. silver on glass reflector, 5| ft. focus, 

 made by himself. This he kept indoors, but took 

 it out to a fixed stand in the garden for use. 



The Great Comet, which proved so disappoint- 

 ing to us, was really a splendid and wonderful 

 object as seen from the southern hemisphere. A 

 soldier in South Africa described it as being " like 

 a veldt fire with a rocket on top " — -a very expres- 

 sive, if not scientific, de- 

 scription of the visitor, 

 as will be seen by the 

 somewhat rough sketch 

 taken in South Africa, 

 and sent by Rev. C. L. 

 Tweedale to the " English 

 Mechanic," and here re- 

 produced by the kind per- 

 mission of the publishers. 

 The drawing tallies very 

 closely with the various 

 descriptions and sketches 

 which have reached this 

 country from other places. 

 Perhaps the most detailed 

 descriptions are from 

 the pen of Major L. A. 

 Eddie, F.R.A.S., sent 

 from Naauwpoort, Cape 

 Colony. The head was 

 elliptical in shape, its 

 longitudinal diameter on 

 May 2nd, when it rivalled 

 Sirius in splendour, be- 

 ing about 1\ times its 

 transverse. On May 6th 

 there was no moon, and 

 the Major writes : '• Nu- 

 cleus diminishing, but 



somewhat more elongated. Three small stars in 

 form of triangle at apex of bright portion of 

 straight tail (these stars were /j. 2 , v, and 51 Eridani). 

 and head nearly in a line, but a little south of 

 44 Eridani. As darkness advanced, and this 

 marvellous comet was for the first time seen pro- 

 jected on a dark background, it, indeed, presented 

 a grand and glorious appearance never to be for- 

 gotten. The bright straight tail, with its faint 

 extension, was about 16° in length, reaching nearly 

 to Rigel, and faded out about 4° south of this 

 bright star ; while the enormous lateral emission 

 of shimmering light, as it were, flooded the south- 

 western regions of the celestial canopy with a 

 ghostly gleam, covering; 40° of the sky in its length 

 and varying in breadth from 6° to 10° ; while 

 the whole space between this mighty extension 

 and the more brilliant cometic appendage was 

 filled with a gauze-like sheen." His complete 

 diary of " The Great Comet of the 20th Century " 

 will be found in No. 8, vol. xi., of the " Journal of 



the B.A.A." A letter from Mr. R. T. A. Innes, of 

 the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, de- 

 scribes the nucleus of the comet as being only 

 about 10th magnitude. " The coma is about 1' in 

 diameter, and I did not notice any tail " — this for 

 June 2nd. When the Nova Persei was at its best 

 the condition of the film of the 30-in. reflector at 

 Greenwich prevented spectroscopic photography 

 being brought to bear, and when the Great Comet 

 came the great spectroscope of the Cape Observa- 

 tory had been sent to England for alteration. 



The Solar Eclipse appears to have been very 

 fairly observed ; the corona reminded one of its 

 appearance in May 1900. The sky, notwithstand- 

 ing the considerable length of totality, was bright, 

 brighter than at full moon. One large curved 

 prominence, " like the blunt curved horn of a 

 bull," as Mrs. Maunder describes it, made a striking 

 object. After the busy work of observing the 

 eclipse was over, we regret to learn that Mr. E. 

 Walter Maunder was struck down by malaria. 



Comet k 1001 



He was working at the observatory at Pample- 

 mousse, Mauritius, noted for its seemingly clear 

 skies, but troubled by being in the midst of a very 

 fever swamp. 



Dr. Lewis Swift, of Mount Echo, California, 

 has, owing to failing sight, been obliged, at the 

 age of eighty-one, to dispose of his observatory, 

 with its 16-inch Alvan Clark achromatic, presented 

 to him by the citizens of Rochestei, U.S.A., in 1882, 

 at a cost of over £2,700. Professor E. A. Larkin is 

 to have the direction of Mount Echo Observatory, 

 Dr. Swift retiring to Marathon, New York County. 



New or Temporary Stars. — A pamphlet 

 bearing this title, by Mr. J. H. Brown, F.R.A.S., 

 of Brighton, has been forwarded to us. It is by 

 no means a description or history of the Novae, 

 but a suggestion as to how the outbursts may be 

 caused. 



Erratum.— From p. 60 of Science-Gossip for 

 July, line 9, delete the word " hollow." 



