248 



SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



CONDUCTED BY F. C. DENNETT. 













Position at Noon. 





190 



2 



Rises. 



Sets. 



R.A. 



Dec. 





Jan 





h.m. 



h.m. 



h.m.s. 



1 a 



Sun .. 



10 





8. 5 a.m. 



.. 4.10 p.m. . 



19.23.44 . 



22. 3.17 S. 





20 





7.56 a.m. 



. . 4.26 p.m. . 



20. 6.45 . 



20.15.34 S. 





30 





7.44 a.m. 



. . 4.42 p.m. . 



20.48.32 . 



17.49.57 S. 









Rises. 



SoutJis. 



Sets. 



Age at Noon. 





Jan. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



h.m. 



d. h.m. 



Moon . 



10 





7.5G a.m. 



.. 0.35 p.m. . 



. 5. 21 p.m 



. .. 14.45 





20 





1. 6 p.m. 



.. 9.11 p.m. . 



. 4.13 a.m 



.. 10 14.45 





30 







. . 4.56 a.m. . 



10. 4 a.m 



.. 20 14.45 













Position at Noon. 









South 



?. Semi- 



R.A. 



Dec. 







Jan. h.m. 



diameter, h.m.s. 



a 1 11 



Mercur 



V — 



10 



.. 0.30-8 



p.m. .. 2-4" . 



.19.47. 3 . 



23.18.21 S. 







20 



.. 1 .1-6 



p.m. .. 2-6" . 



.20.57.13 . 



.19. 8.48 S. 







30 



.. 1.23-2 



p.m. .. 3-1" . 



.21.58.15 . 



.12.53.19 S. 



Venus 





10 



.. 2.47-7 



p.m. ..20-5" . 



.22. 4.17 . 



10.31.32 S. 







20 



.. 2.18-6 



p.m. ..24-0" . 



.22.14.43 . 



. 7.21.17 S. 







30 



.. 1.35-2 



p.m. ..27-8" . 



.22.10.42 . 



. 5.13.10 S. 



Mars 





20 



.. 1.13-8 



p.m. .. 2-0" . 



.21. 9.33 . 



.17.31. 7 S. 



Jupiter 





20 



..11.56-4 



a.m. ..14-9" . 



19.52. 4 . 



.21.15.33 S. 



Saturn 





20 



. 11.30-8 



a.m. . . 7-0" . 



.19.26.29 . 



21.48.43 S. 



Uranus 





20 



.. 9.19-0 



a.m. .. 1-8" . 



.17.14.18 . 



23. 5.13 S. 



Neptune 





20 



..10. 3-7 



p.m. .. 1-2" . 



. 5.56.59 . 



.22.15.37 N. 









Moon's Phases. 











h 



m. 





h.m. 



Zrd Qr. 





Jan 



1 .. 4 



8 p.m. New 



.. Jan. 9 



.. 9.15 p.m. 



1st Qr. 





, 



17 .. 6.38 a.m. Full 



.. „ 24 



.. 0. 6 a.m. 



■ird Qr. 





„ 



31 .. 1 



9 p.m. 







In apogee on January 5th, at 4 a.m. 

 perigee on 21st, at 6 a.m. 



and in 



2 to 3 

 14 to 20 

 18 to 28 .. SCoronids 



Meteors. 



h.m. ° ' 



Quadrantids Radiant R.A. 15.20 Dec. 52 N. 



x Cygnids „ „ 16.20 „ 53 N. 



„ 15.32 „ 31 N. 



Conjunctions op Planets with the Moon. 



9 .. 



. . Saturnf 



. 11 p.m. 



. Planet 4.34 S. 



10 .. 



. . Jupiter* 



. . 8 a.-m. 



„ 5.11 S. 



10 .. 



.. Mercury"'' 



. . 10 a.m. 



„ 7. 4 S. 



11 . 



. . Mars* 



. . Noon 



„ 6.22 S. 



13 .. 



. . Venusf 



. 6 a.m. 



3. 8 S. 



28 .. 



. . Juno* 



. 9 a.m. 



„ 1.11 N. 



Daylight. 



t Below English horizon. 



OCCULTATIONS. 









Angle 





Angle 





Magni- 



Dis- 



from 



Re- 



from 



Jan. 



Star. lude. 



appears. 



Vertex. 



appears. 



Vertex. 







h.m. 



° 



h.m. 



° 



12 . 



c- 1 Capricorni 5-2 . 



4.17 p.m. 



.. 53 . 



. 5.27 p.m. 



.. 209 



13 . 



k Aquarii 5-5 . 



6.23 p.m. 



.. 340 . 



7. 1 p.m. 



.. 267 



21 . 



71 Ononis 5-1 . 



8.15 p.m. 



.. 50 . 



8.39 p.m. 



6 



23 . 



68Geminorum 5-0 . 



4.56 a.m. 



.. 118 . 



5.28 a.m. 



.. 191 



24 . 



k Cancri 5-0 . 



6. 7 p.m. 



.. 147 . 



7. 1 p.m. 



.. 315 



25 . 



w Leonis 5-6 . 



. 5.23 a.m. 



.. 23 . 



. G. a.m. 



.. 303 



The Sun should be watched for outbreaks of 

 activity. It is nearest to the Earth at 7 a.m. on 

 New Year's Day. 



Mercury is in superior conjunction with the 

 Sun at 6 a.m. on January 2nd, after which he be- 



comes a morning star, setting at G.20 p.m. on the 

 30th. At 3 p.m. on January 6th he is in conjunc- 

 tion with, and 2° 11' south of, Saturn. At 5 p.m. 

 on the 9th, he passes 1° 50' south of Jupiter, and 

 at 2 a.m. on the 24th is in conjunction with Mars, 

 only being situated 25' to the south of the fiery 

 planet. 



Venus is an evening star all the month, attain- 

 ing her greatest brilliancy at 3 a.m. on January 

 10th. The low declination of the two inferior 

 planets militates against successful observation. 



Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus are all 

 too close to the Sun for observation. Jupiter and 

 Saturn are in conjunction with the Sun on January 

 15th and 9th respectively, at 11 p.m. and 10 p.m. 

 on those dates. 



Neptune is well above the horizon all the work- 

 ing hours of the night, retrograding along a path 

 3m. 9s. in length a little west of -n Geminorum, 

 which is situated K.A. 6h. 9m. Os., Dec. 22° 31' 59" 

 north. 



The Leonids. — The great display seems to have 

 failed, but reports come to hand of many Leonids 

 having been seen in America, and some few in 

 Northern Ireland. 



A New A^ariable of the Algol type is reported 

 by Her)- F. Schwab, which will be known as 93 

 (1901) Sagittae, situated in R.A. 19h. 14m. 26s., 

 Dec. 19° 25' 4". Its normal brightness is 6 - 5 mag- 

 nitude, and falls to nearly 9, so that it can be 

 easily observed with small instruments. Its light 

 curve is very like that of U Cephei, occupying 17 

 clays. Its next minima are due about the 7th and 

 24th of January. 



A New Planetoid, which is believed to approach 

 closer to the earth than Eros, has been found in the 

 southern skies, having- at the time of discovery a 

 declination of about 60°. The announcement comes 

 from Professor Pickering, and Professor Simon 

 Newcombe calls attention to its orbit, which is 

 believed to have great eccentricity. 



Great Orion Nebula. — Senor Comas Sola, of 

 Barcelona, considers that the sixth star of the 

 well-known trapezium has increased in brightness, 

 being on November 10th only 0'4 magnitude below 

 the fifth star, which itself seemed unusually 

 bright. 



Starfield Observatory. — We recently men- 

 tioned that Mdlle. Klumpke was leaving the 

 Paris Observatory, where she had laboured so long 

 and well, to assist Dr. Isaac Roberts at Crow- 

 borough, in Sussex. This, however, was not the 

 whole fact, as these two valued workers in celestial 

 photography have since been married, and Mrs. 

 Isaac Roberts, D.Sc, gave an interesting address at 

 the conversazione held at Sion College on Novem- 

 ber 27th, celebrating the one hundredth meeting 

 of the British Astronomical Association. 



Nova 1901 Persei. — Herr Osten Bergstrand, of 

 Upsala," after careful determination of the star's 

 place, gives its mean position for 1901-4 as R.A. 

 3h. 24m. 2816s., Dec. 43° 33" 45-0" N. It appar- 

 ently has a proper motion in R.A. of — 0t>5s., 

 and in Dec. —0-7". This would seem to indi- 

 cate that the Nova is by no means one of our 

 nearest neighbours in space. The deep purple ray, 

 which is apparently the cause of the smaller 

 aureola which photographic refractors show around 

 this star, is visually visible with the spectroscope, 

 and is also found to be present in the spectrum of 



