6o 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



CONDUCTED BY F. C. DENNETT. 



Position at Noon . 



iSg<) 

 July 

 Sun ... 6 . 

 i6 . 

 26 . 



July 

 MooH 6 . 

 16 . 

 26 . 



Rises. 



■ 3-52 a.r 



■ 4-4 



. 4. 16 

 Rises- 



h.iii. 

 . 2.26 a.i 



1.36 p.r 



q.ri 



Sets. 



h.m 



8 17 p.m. 

 . 8.8 

 - 7-56 

 Souths 



h in. 

 . 10.57 a-"!- 

 . 6.ig p.m. 

 ■ 2-5S a.m. 



R.A. 

 h.m. 

 7.1 . 

 7.42 . 

 8.22 

 Sets 

 h.vi. 



7.22 p.m. 

 10.53 P-i" 



22.43 



Mcrc2iry 



Venn 



Mars 

 Jupiter 

 Saturn 

 Uranus 

 Neptune 



July 

 .. 6 .. 



16 .. 



26 .. 

 .. 6 .. 



16 ., 



26 .. 

 ..16 .. 

 ..16 .. 

 ..16 .. 

 ..i6 .. 

 ..16 .. 



Souths 

 /i.in. 

 1.37 p.m. 

 I ■5.'! 



10.40 a.m. 



■0-S4 

 11.7 



3.39 p.m. 



6.19 



9.3" 

 8.31 

 10.16 a.m. 



Scuti- 



Diaiitcier 



- 3'°" •■ 



• 3'5 - 



■ 4'2" ■• 



■ 5'3" ■• 

 . 5-1" .. 

 . 5-1" .. 



■ 2'3" 

 •it's" 

 . 8-3" 



• "'9',' 

 . I '2" 



19.27 

 Ag:e at Noon. 

 d It. HI. 

 =, 40 

 S 29 

 9.16 a.m. 18 15 2g 

 Position at A^oofi. 



R.A. 

 h.nt. 

 8..34 

 9.29 



Dec. 



20.17 N. 



15.0 

 0.5 • 9-54 

 5-37 ■■ 2^.51 N. 

 6.30 .. 23.12 



22.25 

 5.39 N. 



10.41 a. 



21.30 S. 



20. ss S. 



22.8 N. 



7-2.? 



11.15 



13.57 

 17.9 



16.9 

 5-41 



Moon's Phases. 



h.m. 

 New .. July 7 ., 8.31 p.m. ist Qy. . 

 Full .. ,, 22 . , 9.42 p.m. ^rdQr. . 



In apogee July loth, at 4 p.m. 

 miles ; and in perigee on 23rd, 

 222,200 miles. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon. 



July 15 .. 11.59 P-"Ti' 

 ,. 29 .-. 0.42 p.m. 



distant 252,400 

 at noon, distant 



July 6 



13 

 16 



Venus 



Mercuryt 



Marst 



Jupiter* 



Saturn+ 



3 a.m. 

 3 a.m. 

 3 a.m. 

 6 p.m. 

 I a.m. 



planet 1.0 S. 



„ 4.5= N. 



,, 6.28 N. 



.. 5.53 N. 



26 N. 



~ Daylight. + Below English horizon. 



The Sun usually has spots upon it, but generally 

 small. The sun is in apogee at 9 a.m. on July 4th. 



Mercury is an evening star, reaching its greatest 

 elongation, 26" 59' East, at 11 a.m. on 22nd. At 

 the beginning of the month it sets ih. I5ni. after the 

 sun, but the interval gradually decreases to 35 minutes 

 at the end of Julv. 



Venus is a morning star all the month, rising a 

 little more than an hour and a quarter before the sun. 

 Its disc is gradually decreasing in size. At 10 p.m. 

 on July 6th, it is in conjunction with, and only 46' 

 , to the North of Neptune, but is then below our 

 horizon. 



Mars is now very small and uninteresting. He 

 must be looked for as soon as he appears out of the 

 twilight. 



Jui'iTER may also be observed as soon as twilight 

 will permit. 



Saturn with his widely open ring, should be looked 

 for a little later, advantage being taken of every 

 steady evening. The Cassini division of the rings inay 

 be seen with comparatively small apertures. 



Uranus may be observed as soon as it is dark 

 enough to be .seen. 



Nei'TUNE is a morning .star, but loo near the .sun 

 for observation. 



Meteors may be specially expected about July 

 nth, 20 — 2ist, and 25 — 30th. 



Swift's Comet is now fast travelling from us and 

 decreasing in brightness. It had a nucleus on 

 June 3rd, not e.xceeding 95 magnitude, but on June 

 4th it had increased in brilliance to 6 magnitude. 



Tempel's Comet (1S73 II.)has been recovered by 

 Perrine of the Lick observatory. It was due to pass 

 perihelion on June iSth. It was faint at the time of 

 discovery. 



Holmes' Comet (1892 III.) was recovered by 

 Perrine at the Lick Observatory on June nth, very 

 near its expected place. 



Professor F. L. O. Wadsworth has, according 

 to " Science," been appointed by the managers of 

 the Pennsylvania University, to succeed Professor 

 J. E. Keeler as director of The AUeghenj- Obser- 

 vatory. 



A Great Model of the Moon, in relief, 

 19 feet in diameter, has been added during the past 

 year to Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, through 

 the generosity of Mr. L. W. Reese. It v.as prepared 

 from the maps of Beer and Madler, and Schmidt. 

 This model took five years to construct. Hitherto 

 only sections had been accessible, and those at rare 

 intervals. 



Minor Plan ets. — Three of the recen tly announced 

 discoveries, two by Professor Max Wolf, and the 

 other by Dr. Palisa prove to be re-discoveries. The 

 total number of 444 are now known. 



A New Algol Variable, has been discovered in 

 Cygnus by M. Ceraski of Moscow. It is situated in 

 R.A. 2oh. 2m. 24-5S., N. Dec. 45" 52'9'. Its normal 

 magnitude is 8 "6, and it decreases about two 

 magnitudes. It was discovered on photographs taken 

 from May to July, 1898. 



Double Stars. — At the meeting of the British 

 Astronomical Society on May 31st, Mr. E. A. Holmes 

 read a paper on "A Year among Double Stars." 

 After referring to his own observations, he endeavoured 

 to account for the apparently little interest taken by 

 members of the Society in this class of objects, as 

 shown by the fact that the Director, Mr. G. M. 

 Seabrooke, had failed to get a successful section 

 formed. Mr. Holmes thojight it was largely due to 

 the pseudo-accuracy assumed when the distances were 

 given to the second decimal place, and the position 

 angle also running into decimals. In the ensuing 

 discussion, the president, Mr. W. H. Maw, thought 

 that no double star observer would care to bind himself 

 to the accuracy of these figures ; but at the same time 

 they served a useful purpose when getting the averages 

 of observations. Mr. G. F. Chambers frankly con- 

 fessed that he was glad this section was not successful, as 

 he thought the more fully equipped, large observatories 

 Nsere better fitted for the work. He considered there 

 was much to do, such as the observation of planets, 

 comets, and meteors, that was more suitable for the 

 members of the Association. 



Total Eclipse of the Sun. — Mr. Maunder in 

 the same meeting said that the individual cost of going 

 next May to Spain, Portugal, or Algiers was expected 

 to reach about ^20 or £2\. He already had received 

 109 names of those who desired to participate in the 

 observations. The American Government, if notice 

 be given them, will not demand duty on instruments 

 taken there to observe the eclipse. 



The Sun's Surface. — I was unable to observe 

 the Sun on May loth, iSth, 19th, 20th, and 22n(l, 

 can any of our readers inform me as to the presence of 

 spots on either or all of these dates ? Please address, 

 F. C. Dennett, 60, Lenthall Road, Dalston, N.E. 



