214 



SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



3h. 20m. exposure the larger aureola is brought out 

 with a diameter of some six minutes of the arc. 

 The brightness of the star is said to show much 

 less variation. 



" Observation without Instruments." by- 

 Arthur Mee. F.K.A.S. (32 pp., 6£ in. x 4 in., with 

 frontispiece), is a useful brochure for those 

 who want to begin the study of the heavens 

 without instrumental aid. It may be obtained 

 from Messrs. George Philip & Sons, price 3d., or, 

 post free for an additional halfpenny, from its 

 author, Llanishen, Cardiff. 



The Parhelion mentioned on p. 182 of Science- 

 Gossip, No 90, "was observed a little east of the 

 real sun, and equally above the horizon. Mock 



The oldest known observation of Saturn was 

 made by the Chaldeans on a date answering to 

 March 1, B.C. 228, when the planet was a little 

 south of y Virginis. On February 21st, sixteen 

 minutes before midnight in the year A.D. 503, from 

 Athens, Saturn was observed to reappear from the 

 middle of the illuminated limb of the moon, after 

 occultation. 



Whiston records that Dr. Samuel Clarke and his 

 father, observing with a 17 -foot refractor, about 

 the year 1707 or 1708, saw a star between Saturn 

 and its ring. Dawes once observed a star of less 

 than eighth magnitude pass behind the outer 

 edge of " A," but under unfavourable circum- 

 stances. Some time since, the discovery of a 

 ninth satellite of Saturn was announced on the 



Rings of Saturn. {From drawing bu S. Bolton.) 



disc appeared red. The time of day was about 

 12.30 when the phenomenon was visible." — {Rev.) 

 S. Arthur Brenan, Strand House, Cushendun, Co. 



Antrim. 



November Leonids. — Astronomers were again 

 disappointed with regard to the November leonids 

 in 1901. In many parts of the country cloudy 

 weather prevailed ; still some were observed on 

 November 13th and 14th, though not in large 

 numbers. A considerable flight was seen from a 

 vessel off the east coast of America. 



CHAPTERS FOE YOUNG ASTRONOMERS. 



By Frank 0. Dennett. 



(Continued from page 183.) 



Saturn's System {concluded). 

 During the opposition of 1899 Mr. H. J. Towns- 

 hend, of Leeds, saw the Cassini division of the 

 rings passing apparently a little north of the 

 North Pole of the planet, although the portion 

 close to the pole was hidden by the shadow. In 

 1900 the division seemed to be approaching the 

 limb of the planet as if it would be tangential to 

 the North Pole. This is very much the appearance 

 shown in Mr. Bolton's drawing from the " Memoirs 

 of the British Astronomical Association," repro- 

 duced by permission. In 1914 the visibility 

 should be looked for of the division south of the 

 Southern Pole. 



strength of some photographs, but the discovery 

 needs further confirmation. Its orbit was believed 

 to be far outside that of Japetus. 



Uranus. 



This giant world is some 30j875 miles in diameter, 

 so that fifty-nine globes the size of the world would 

 only equal it in bulk ; yet set in the scale it would 

 need but fourteen times the weight of the earth to 

 balance it, so that, bulk for bulk, it is just a little 

 weightier than Jupiter. ' A weight dropped on its 

 surface would only fall thirteen feet in the second 

 instead of sixteen feet, as on the earth. It is readily 

 visible to the naked eye as a star of between five 

 and six magnitudes. It has an apparent angular 

 diameter of about 3" u, so that any good telescope 

 of three inches aperture, or over, will detect that it 

 has a sensible disc ; but it appears very " woolly " 

 and ill-defined unless an instrument of at least six 

 inches is employed. 



With nine inches Buff ham thought he could ob- 

 serve traces of bright patches, and Lassell was once 

 of opinion there might be a spot. Another observer 

 believed he could see belts. Miidler thought he 

 saw, and measured, the ellipticity of the disc as 

 10'-9, which, .with the appearance of the spots, 

 seems to indicate that the rotation is almost from 

 north to south, and is at the same time rapid. 



Sir W. Herschel thought that he had discovered 

 six satellites to Uranus, but only two of them 



