3i6 



SCIENCE GOSSIP. 



CONDUCTED EY F. C. DENNETT. 



1900. 

 Mar. 



Moon 



Mar. 



Rises. 



h.tn. 

 .. 6.48 a.m. 

 . . 6.25 

 .. 6.2 

 .. 5-40 



Rises, 

 /i.t/i. 



. . 6.18 a.m. 

 , . 1. 14 p.m. 



31 .. 5. 20 a.m. 



Se^s. 

 h.ni. 



.. 5.3Sp.m. 

 .. 5.55 

 6.12 

 . 6.29 



Sontks. 



k.in. 



0.7 p.m. 



. 8.58 p.m. 



3.30 a.m. 



. 0.33 p.m. 



Mercury 



Venus 



Mars 



Jupiter 



Saturn 



Uranus 



Neptune 



Sottt/is. 

 h.171. 



I. II p.m. . 



i.iop.m. . 



. . 0.26 p.m. . 



.. 11.20 a.m. . 



.. 2.35 p.m. . 



. , 2.39 p.m. . 



2.44 p.m. . 



2.50 p.m. . 



. . 11.27 a-m- ■ 



. . 5.22 a.m . 



7.4 a.m. 



. . 5.30 a.m. . 



6.19 p.m. . 



Sewi- 

 Dia7netcr. 

 3.0" . . 

 .. 4.0"' .. 



.. 5.3" .. 



.. 5.6" .. 



.. 7.4" .. 



7.8'' .. 



Position at Noon. 



R.A. Dec. 



h.m. ° ' 



22.4S .. 7.39 S. 



23.25 • • 3-46 



.. 0.2 . . O.IO iN. 



.. 0.38 .. 4.5 



Sets Age at Noon. 



h.m, d, h. m. 



.. 6.12 p m. o o 35 

 . . 4.2 a.m. 10 o 35 

 .. 7.42 a.m. 20 o 35 

 .. 7.56 p.m. o 15 30 



Position at Noon. 



R.A. 

 /i.m. 



23.46 .. 



0.25 . . 



0.20 .. 



23-53 •• 



I. 10 .. 



1.54 .. 



9.9 

 2.0' 



17.8' 



7-5' 

 1-7' 

 1.2' 



•• 3-=3 

 .. 22.42 

 .. 16.36 

 .. i8.t8 

 .. 16.44 

 ■■ 5-35 



Dec. 



1.9 s. 

 5.32 N. 

 5.58 



1.12 



7-34 N. 

 12.28 

 ■6-54 

 20.41 



9.27 S. 



21.10 b. 



22.23 s. 



22.15 o. 



22.4 N. 



Moon's Phases. 



/i.jn. h.m. 



ri.25a.m. 15/ Qr. .. Mar. 8 .. 5.34 a.m. 



8.12a.m. -yd-Qr... ,, 24. .5. 36a.m. 

 8.30 p.m. 



In perigee, March ist at noon ; in apogee on 15th 



and in perigee again on 29th at 11 p.m. 



New .. Mar. i 

 Fuii .. „ 16 

 New .. ,,30 



at I a.m. 



Meteors. 



/i.m. 



Mar. .. j8 Leonids .. Radiant 11.40 Dec. 10° N, 



,, 1-4 .. T Leonids .. ,, 11. 4 ,, 5° N. 



,, 1-28 .. K Cepheids .. „ 20.32 ,, 78° N. 



,, 24 .. ^ Ursids .. ,, 10.44 )) 58° N. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon. 



Mar. 



24 

 29 

 30 



Mercury 



Venus* 



Jupiter^t 



Saturn"' 



Marst 



Mercury""" 



6 p.m. 

 8 a.m. 

 r p.m. 

 8 a.m. 



10 p.m. 



7 a.m. 



planet 4.37 S. 

 „ 1.8 N. 



» 0.49 s. 

 ,, 6.29 s. 



2.59 s. 



* Daylight. t Below English horizon 



OCCULTATIONS AND KeAR APPROACHES, 



Mar. Star. 



Dis- 

 I^Iagni- appears, 

 tilde, h. VI. 



8. Neptune 

 II . .yGeminorum 5.2 

 16.. f Leonis . . 5.1 

 22..p Ophiuchi .. 5.3 

 24,. Saturn 



6.13 p.m. 

 . 1.43 a.m. 

 . 3.20 a.m. 

 , 5.19 a.m. 



Angle 

 from 

 Vertex. 



. . 107 . . 



57 •• 



64 .. 



165 .. 



S6 .. 



Re- Angle 

 appears, from 

 h.m. Vertex. 



7.34 p.m. 

 2.40 a.m. 

 4.25 a.m. 

 5.33 a.m. 

 9.46 a.m. 



• 249 

 . 260 

 ■ 279 

 . 183 



. 225 



but 



The Sun is frequently quite free from spots ; 

 should nevertheless be watched, as considerable spots, 

 and even groups, sometimes occur. 



Mercury at the beginning of the month is an 

 evening star, reaching its greatest elongation, 18° 16' 

 east, at 11 a.m. on March 8th. It is then favourably 



situated for observation in the constellation Pisces, 

 and sets about an hour and three-quarters after the 

 sun. It is in inferior conjunction with the sun at 

 3 a.m. on March 25th. 



Venus is well placed for observation all the 

 month, being an evening star, setting some four hours 

 later than the sun. It begins the month in Pisces, 

 but about the 8th passes into Aries. 



Mars is too near the sun for observation. 



Jupiter is a morning star situated just a little east 

 of CO Ophiuchi. 



Saturn is a morning star situated slightly to the 

 east of a line joining /i and \ Sagittarii. It is un- 

 fortunate that da\-Iight will arrive before the occulta- 

 tion of Saturn on the 24th of March. 



Uranus is also a morning star, situated a little 

 south-east of Jupiter. 



Neptune is still situated just north-east of f Tauri, 

 and must be looked for early in the evening. Effort 

 should be made' to observe the occupation on March 

 8th. 



The Zodiacal Light may be looked for in the 

 eastern sky as soon as it is dark enough. It has 

 already been seen several times this year by different 

 observers, including Colonel E. E. Markwick, at 

 Devonport. 



The Cambrian Natural Observer, the quar- 

 terly journal of the Astronomical Society of Wales, 

 for January, is to hand. It contains reports of 

 observations on the lunar eclipse of December i6th, 

 as well as of attempted observations on the Leonids. 

 The Society seems to be making vigorous progress. 



A New Comet (a 1900) has been discovered by 

 M. Giacobini of the Nice Observatory, and since 

 observed by M. Javelle of the same observatory. On 

 the evening of February 3rd it was situated in R.A. 

 2 h. 49 ni. 51S., S. Declination 6° 40' 10" just be- 

 tween the constellations of Cetus and Eridanus, 

 travelling in a north-westerly direction. This leads 

 to its being lost amid the solar brilliance. 



The Sun has during the last half of January and 

 the beginning of February been exerting a consider- 

 able amount of energy, no less than fifteen spots, 

 some of them conspicuous, being recorded on one 

 day. 



The Royal Astro.nomical Society has chosen 

 Mr. Edward Ball Knobel for its new President in 

 succession to Professor G. H. Darwin, F.R.S. Its 

 gold medal has been presented to M. Poincare for his 

 researches in the mathematical theory of rotating 

 fluid bodies, which have a bearing upon the figure of 

 our earth and its oceanic tides. Professor Darwin, 

 in the presence of the French Ambassador, gave an 

 excellent address, explaining the reason for the 

 award. He described M. Poincare's researches and , 

 pointed out that, like some other mathematicians, the 

 recipient of the medal has much advanced, on new 

 lines, the solution of the Problem of Three Bodies. 

 This may be described as the accurate determination 

 of the earth's moon under the attractive force of the 

 sun and earth. 



Reflecting Telescopes. — At the meeting of the 

 British Astronomical Association at Sion College on 

 January 31st, Mr. Edwin A. Holmes read a paper in 

 which he endeavoured to show that M. Schaeberle's 

 investigations with regard to reflectors were not 

 wholly right in the conclusions arrived at. The 

 image produced at the focal point is not a series of 

 images superposed, but the resultant image produced 

 by the entire objective. 



