SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



l S7 



CONDUCTED BY F. C. DENNETT. 











Position at Noon. 





1901 Rises. 



Sets. 



R.A. 



Dec. 





Oct 



h.m. 



h.m. 



h.fn.s. 



o ; ;/ 



Sun .. 



2 



. . 6.3 a.m. 



. . 5.37 p.m. . 



12.31.32 .. 



3.24.19 S. 





12 



.. 6.20 a.m. 



.. 5.14 p.m. . 



13. 8.6 .. 



7.14.20 S. 





22 



.. 6.37 a.m. 



. . 4.52 p.m. . 



13.45.30 .. 



10.54.26 S. 







Rises. 



Souths. 



Sets. 



Age at Noon. 





Oct 



h.m. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



d. h.m. 



Moon . 



2 



.. 8.17 p.m 



. . 3.22 a.m. . 



. 11.26 a.m 



. .. 19 14.42 





12 



.. 6.16 a.m. 



..11.40 a.m. . 



. 4.57 p.m 



. .. 29 14.42 





22 



.. 2.15 p.m. 



.. 7.35 p.m. . 



• — 



.. 9 22.49 











Position at Noon. 







South 



s. Semi- 



R.A. 



Dec. 







Oct. h.m. 



diametei 



. h.m.s. 



o / ,/ 



Mercur 



/•• 



2 .. 1.13-5 



p.m. .. 2-9" . 



.13.55.30 . 



.13.51.51 S. 







12 .. 1.18-5 



p.m. .. 3-3" . 



.14.39.58 . 



.18.36.11 S. 







22 .. 1. 6-2 



p.m. .. 4-1" . 



.15. 7.15 . 



.20.46.38 S. 



Venus 





2 .. 2.18-3 



p.m. .. 7-4" . 



.15. 0.13 . 



.18.17.33 S. 







12 .. 2.26-8 



p.m. .. 7-9" . 



.15.4S.11 . 



. 21.46.54 S. 







22 .. 2.37-0 



p.m. .. 8-5" . 



.16.37.43 . 



24.21.57 S. 



Mars 





12 .. 2.23-0 



p.m. .. 2-3" . 



.15.44.31 . 



. 20.35.22 S. 



Jupiter 





12 .. 5. 3-9 



p.m. ..17-2" . 



.18.26. 2 . 



.23.28.4SS. 



Saturn 





12 .. 5.23-0 



p.m. .. 7-6" . 



.18.45.14 . 



.22.45. 3 S. 



Uranus 





12 .. 3.28-4 



p.m. .. 1-8" . 



.16.50.22 . 



22.31.22 S. 



Neptune 





12 .. 4.46-1 



a.m. .. 1-2" . 



. 6. 6.24 . 



.22.15.43 N. 







Moon's Phases. 









h 



TO. 





h.m. 



3rd Qr. 





Oct. 4 ;. 8.52 p.m.. New 



.. Oct. 12 



.. 1.11 p.m. 



1st Qr. 





„ 20 .. 5.58 p.m. Full 



.. „ 27 



.. 3. 6 p.m. 



In apogee on October 15th, at 7 a.m. ; and in 

 perigee on 28th, at 3 a.m. 



Meteors. 



h.m. ° 



Oct. 11 to 24 .. e Arietids Radiant R.A. 2.40 Dec. 20 N. 



„ 17 to 20 .. Orionids „ „ 6.8 „ 15 N. 



» ■ • $ Geminids „ „ 7.4 „ 23 N. 



Conjunctions op Planets with the Moon. 



Oct. 



Junof ..10 p.m. .. Planet 0.43 S. 



Mercury . . 6 p.m. . . „ 3.15 S. 



Marsf . . 3 a.m. . . „ 2.24 S. 



Venus*f . . 8 a.m. . . „ 3.48 S. 



Japiter*t .. 6 a.m. .. „ 4.25 S. 



Saturn*! . . Noon. . . „ 4.11 S. 



* Daylight. f Below English horizon. 



Occult ations and Near Approach. 









Angle 



Angle 





Magni- 



Dis- 



from 



Re- from 



Oct. 



Star. tude. 



appears. 



Vertex. 



appears. Vertex. 







h.m. 



° 



h.m. ° 



4 . 



. SI Orionis 5-1 . 



. 5.10 a.m. 



.. 61 



. 6. 9 a.m. . . 302 



17 . 



. f Ophiuchi 4-5 . 



. 5. 2 p.m. 



.. 135 . 



. 5.38 p.m. .. 183 



22 . 



. c l Capricorni 5-2 . 



. 9. 5 p.m. 



.. 138 . 



. 9. 7 p.m. . . 141 



23 . 



. k Aquarii 5-5 . 



. 8.53 p.m. 



.. 56 . 



.10. 6 p.m. .. 228 



25 . 



. A Piscium 4-7 . 



. 2.35 a.m. 



.. 35 . 



. 3.30 a.m. . . 208 



29 . 



. e Tauri 3-7 . 



. 7.34 p.m. 



.. 30 . 



. near approach. 



Partial Lunar Eclipse.— At 2.25 p.m. on 

 October 27th the Moon comes in contact with the 

 Earth's shadow, the eclipse increasing until 3.15, 

 when 023 (the Moon's diameter being =1) will 

 express the magnitude of the eclipse. The last 

 contact with the shadow is at 4.6 p.m. ; but, as the 



Moon does not rise until about half an hour later, 

 this part of the phenomenon will not be visible in 

 England. The penumbra, however, may still be 

 seen as a shading, from which the Moon becomes 

 entirely free at 5.26 p.m. 



The Sun still remains very free from disturb- 

 ance. There was a fine group of faculae near the 

 east limb on August 21st and 22nd. 



Mercury is an evening star, reaching its greatest 

 elongation, 25° 3' east, at 5 p.m. on October 12th, 

 when it sets about half an hour after the Sun. 



Venus is an evening star, in conjunction with 

 Mars at 2 p.m. on 10th, when they are only sepa- 

 rated by 55'. They pass the meridian at 2.25 p.m., 

 and should be looked for if the sky is clear. 



Mars is too near the Sun for useful observation. 



Jupiter and Saturn both cross the meridian 

 in daylight, and so must be looked for as soon as 

 possible. 



Uranus is too near the Sun for observation. 

 At noon on 25th it is in conjunction with and 

 2° 21' north of Venus. 



Neptune rises in the north-east at 9.17 p.m. 

 on October 1st, and about two hours earlier at the 

 end of the month. 



The Royal Observatory, Cape op Good 

 Hope. — The annual report for the year 1900 is to 

 hand, and tells of a year of j^rogress. An obser- 

 vatory for the new Transit Circle, designed by 

 H.M. Astronomer, Sir David Gill, and constructed 

 by T. Cooke & Sons of York, has been erected, and 

 should prove a very perfect, while at the same 

 time comfortable, building- for the purpose. At 

 the date of the report the new Transit Circle itself 

 was believed to be in course of removal from Messrs. 

 Troughton & Simms' workshops to its destination. 

 The Transit Circle in use has been largely devoted 

 during the year to a thorough determination of the 

 personal equation of the different observers. All 

 six observers appear to record the transit of a 

 4th magnitude star accurately ; but three of them 

 record the stars brighter than 4th as passing the 

 wires a very little too quickly. On the other 

 hand, stars fainter than 4th are recorded by 

 all the observers a little too late ; the fainter 

 the star the greater the error. Over 6,000 other 

 observations have been made with the circle, 

 besides those for the rectification of instrumental 

 errors. Over 200 observations of the positions of 

 the four outer planets were made with the helio- 

 meter near the times of their respective oppositions. 

 Other observations were made with the same 

 instrument of the positions of the cusps during the 

 eclipse of the Sun on November 22nd, and of the 

 conjunction of Jupiter with the star /3 Scorpii. 

 Observations of 78 phenomena of occupations were 

 obtained with the equatorial telescopes. The 24-inch 

 object glass of the McClean equatorial has been 

 at Dublin during the whole of the past year, at 

 the request of Sir Howard Grubb, for the cor- 

 rection of certain faults. The 18-inch visual 

 telescope has been employed in double-star work ; 

 31 pairs, previously unrecorded, having been dis- 

 covered by Mr. R. T. A. Innes. With the Repsold 

 Micrometer attached to this instrument 816 mea- 

 sures of distance and 860 of position have been 

 macte of 430 pairs, some of which had never pre- 

 viously been measured, and others not since the visit 

 of Sir John Herschel to the Cape. Mr. McClean 

 is having new prisms of a whiter flint glass fitted, 

 by the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, 



