SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



CONDUCTED BY F. C. DENNETT. 









Position at Noon. 





1901 Rises. 



R.A. 



Dec. 





Dec. 



h.m. h.m. 



h.m.s. 



O 1 II 



Sun .. 



1 



. 7.45 a.m. .. 3.53 p.m. . 



16.27.33 .. 



21.45. 1 S. 





11 



. 7.57 a.m. . . 3.50 p.m. . 



17.11.11 .. 



22.58.32 S. 





21 



. 8. 5 a.m. . . 3.51 p.m. . 



17.55.27 .. 



23.26.45 S. 





31 



. 8. 8 a.m. . . 3.58 p.m. . 



18.39.48 .. 



23. 8. 5 S. 







Rises. Souths. 



Sets. 



Age at Noon. 





Dec. h.m. h.m. 



h.m. 



d. h.m. 



Moon . 



1 



.. 10.35 p.m. .. 4.36 a.m. . 



. 11.37 a.m 



.. 20 4.26 





11 



. . 7.55 a.m. .. 0.12 p.m. . 



. 4.30 p.m 



.. 9. 7 





21 



. . 1.0 p.m. . . 8.25 p.m. . 



. 2.45 a.m. 



..10 9. 7 





31 



. . 11.44 p.m. . . 4.49 a.m. . 



. 10.51 a.m. 

 Pcsiti 



.. 20 9. 7 

 on at Noon. 







Souths. Semi- 



R.A. 



Dec. 







Dec, h.m. diameter, h.m.s. 



° ' " 



liercui 



y.. 



1 ..10.40-7 a.m. .. 2-7" 



.15.19.23 . 



.16.47.26 S. 







11 ..11. 2-2 a.m. .. 2-5" 



.16.20.20 . 



21.10.12 S. 







21 ..11.28-9 a.m. .. 2-3" 



.17.26.21 . 



.24. 2.53 S. 







31 ..11.58-9 a.m. .. 2-3" . 



.18.35.46 . 



.24.52-41 S. 



Venus 





1 .. 3.15-0 p.m. 12-0" 



.19.53.31 . 



.23.43.25 S. 







11 .. 3.17-6 p.m. ..13-5" . 



.20.35.34 . 



21. 3.34 S. 







21 .. 3.14-9 p.m. ..15-3" 



.21.12.23 . 



17.46. 8 S. 







31 .. 3. 5-5 p.m. ..17-6" 



.21.42.35 . 



.14. 8.39 S. 



Mars 





21 .. 1.34-1 p.m. .. 2-1" 



.19.31.37 . 



.22.54.40 S. 



Jupiter 





21 .. 1.24-8 p.m. ..15-0" . 



.19.22.21 . 



.22.21.32 S. 



Saturn 





21 .. 1.13-8 p.m. .. 7-0" 



.19.11.23 . 



.22.14.57 S. 



Uranus 





21 ..11. 9-7 a.m. .. 1-8'' 



.17. 7. 1 . 



22.56.10 S. 



Neptune . . 



21 .. 0. 51 a.m. .. 1-2" 



. 6. 0.27 . 



.22.15. 8N. 







Moon's Phases. 









h.m. 





h.m. 



3rd Qr 





Dec. 2 .. 9.49 p.m. New .. Dec. 11 



.. 2.53 a.m. 



1st Qr. 





„ 18 .. 8.35 p.m. FuU 



. . „ 25 



.. 0.16 p.m. 



In apogee on December 8th, at 2 p.m. 

 perigee on 24th, at 8 a.m. 



and in 



Meteors. 



h.m. ° 



)ec. 1 to 14 .. Gremiuids Radiant R.A. 7.12 Dec. 33 N. 



„ 7 to 10 .. a Geminids „ „ 7.56 „ 29 N. 



„ 22 to 29.. Canis Veuatieids „ „ 12.56 „ 32 N. 



Conjunctions op Planets with the Moon. 



Dec. 4 



„ 9 



„ 13 



„ 13 



„ 13 



„ 15 



• „ 31 



.Tunof 



Mercuryf 



Mars*t 



Saturn* 



Jupiter* 



Venus'* 



Junof 



Daylight. 



1 a.m. 



.. 10 p.m. .. „ 



. . 8 a.m. „ 



. 10 a.m. 



. . 1 p.m. . . „ 



. . 11 a.m. . . „ 



. 9 p.m. . . „ 



Below English horizon 



Planet 0.14 S. 

 1.23 S. 



5.43 S. 

 4.47 S. 

 4.58 S. 

 7.30 S. 

 0.1S N. 



OCCULTATIONS AND NEAR APPROACHES. 



Dec. 



14 . 



15 . 

 18 . 



23 . 



24 . 



Star. 



tude. 



/3 Capricorni 3-4 



v Aquarii 4-6 



A Piscium 4*7 



e Tauri 3-7 



* „ 5-1 



Angle 

 Dis- from 

 appears. Vertex. 

 h.m. 



6.43 p.m. .. 9 . 

 6.32 p.m. . . 309 . 

 7.24 p.m. .. 353 . 

 5.53 p.m. . . 50 . 

 4.28 a.m. . . 142 . 



Angle 

 Re- from 

 appears. Vertex, 

 h.m. 



Below horizon, 

 near approach. 

 8. 9 p.m. . . 272 

 6.12 p.m. . . 11 

 near approach. 



The Sun seems to show slightly greater activity. 

 October 10th to 12th and October 28th to Novem- 

 ber 1st groups of spots were observed in the 

 Southern hemisphere. A fine spot with one or two 



minute companions has also been visible crossing 

 the disc since November 11th, and was con- 

 spicuous on the 18th. There can be no doubt that 

 the minimum had been passed by that date. At 

 1 p.m. on December 22nd, when the sun enters the 

 sign Capricorn, winter is said to commence. 



Mercury is a morning star, rising in the south- 

 east more than an hour and a half before the sun 

 at the beginning of the month, but its position 

 grows daily worse. At noon on December 18th 

 Mercury is in conjunction with Uranus, passing 28' 

 south of the fainter planet. 



Venus reaches its greatest eastern elongation, 

 47° 15', at 10 a.m. on December 5th, but its great 

 southern declination is not favourable for good 

 observation. 



Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are too near the 

 sun for observation, otherwise the conjunction of 

 Mars with Saturn at 11 a.m. on December 14th, 

 Mars being 1° 18' south, and that of Mars with 

 Jupiter at 3 p.m. on the 17th, Mars being 52' to 

 the south, would be interesting phenomena. 



Uranus, being in conjunction with the Sun at 

 9 p.m. on the 9th, is placed in an impossible 

 position for observation. 



Neptune, coming into opposition at 2 p.m. on 

 December 22nd, is well situated for observation all 

 the month, retrograding some 3m. 35'3s. just west 

 of i\ Geminorum. 



Nova 1901 Persei has proved to be even more 

 interesting than could have been anticipated. In- 

 formation has been received from the Lick 

 Observatory that the photographs of nebulous 

 matter amidst which the Nova is situated, taken 

 with the great Crossley mirror, show that four 

 nebulous condensations have a daily motion of 

 l"-5 towards the south-east. Such are the deter- 

 minations of Professor Perrine. As was mentioned 

 in Science-Gossip, N.S., No. 88, p. 124, MM. Flam- 

 rnarion and Antoniadi, at Juvisy. in France, had 

 photographed what appeared to be a nebulous 

 aureola around the star, having a definite outline. 

 Mr. Alexander Smith, of Dalbeattie, and Professor 

 Max Wolf, of Heidelbei'g, both confirmed these 

 observers, and, moreover, all of them have come to 

 the conclusion that the effect has an optical, and 

 not an objective, origin. Indeed it has been found 

 that when the plate is exposed behind an object 

 glass, the star itself is photographed in the usual 

 manner. If the exposure has only lasted a short 

 time, there is an aureola formed around it which 

 gives the star very much the appearance of a sun- 

 spot, an umbra surrounded by a penumbra. If a 

 longer exposure is given, a second aureola makes its 

 appearance around the inner one ; and if the ex- 

 posure is sufficiently prolonged, the inner aureola 

 becomes quite dense. ' It was noted that the larger 

 aureola was a magnified representation of the 

 smaller, and when Wolf covered over a half of 

 his objective the appearance was found to be 

 present round one-half of a circle. The only 

 explanation at present is, that the star gives out 

 light to which the photographic plates are sensi- 

 tive, but of so different a wave-length to those 

 usually known that our object-glasses are not suffi- 

 ciently corrected for them. The reflector brings 

 them to the same focus as the other rays, because 

 its effects are due to reflection and not to refraction. 

 With M. Flammarion's 6J-inch portrait lens of 

 27J-inch focus, half an hour's exposure showed the 

 star with an image only j-J 5 -inch in diameter, the 

 aureola having an angular diameter of 2'. With 



