122 



5 CIENCE-GOSSIP. 



CONDUCTED BY F. C. DENNETT. 











Position at Noon 



iSgg 



Rises, 



Sets. 





R.A. Dec. 



Sep. 



ii.m. 



h.m. 





h.m. ° ' 



Sun ... 4 



■ 5- l 9 a 



m. .. 639P 



m. 



10 -53 ■■ 7- 11 N. 



14 



■ 5-34 



6.17 





11.29 .. 3.24 



24 



• 5-5° 



■■ S-S4 





12.4 . . 0.29 s. 





Riset 



Souths 





Sets Age at Noon 



Sep. 



h.m 



h ;«. 





h in. d h. t/l. 



Moon 4 



. 4.40 a 



.m. . . 11.25 a 



m. . . 



5.56 p.m. 29 12 



14 



■ 3-25 P 



m. .. 7.36 p 



m. . . 



11.54 9 8 27 



24 



■ 8-iS 



.. 3.47 a 



m. . . 



0.12 19 8 27 

 Position at Noon. 







Souths 



Semi- 



R.A. Dec. 





Sep. 



h.m Diamcte. 



r h.m. ° ' 



Mercury 



■ 4 ■• 



10.50 a.m. . 



:-7' 



• 9-44 •■ '3-3 1 N - 





14 .. 



1 1.6 



2.9" 



. 10.39 . . 10.17 





24 .. 



n-35 



2 -5" 



• n-47 •- 3-'9 



Venus 



. 4 .. 



11.49 a.m. . . 



4-9 



10.43 • • 9-4° N - 





14 .. 



11.56 



4-9 



• "-29 ■■ 4-54 





24 . . 



0.2 p.m. . . 



4-9 



2.15 .. 0.8 s. 



Mars 



.14 .. 



2.1 



2.1 



■ '3-3S •• 9 49 S. 



Jupiter 



.14 .. 



2.52 



IS- 1 " 



. 14.25 .. 13.25 S. 



Saturn 



.14 .. 



5-32 



7.6" 



. 17.6 . . 21.39 s. 



Uranus 



.14 .. 



4.36 



j.8" 



. 16 10 . . 20.58 s 



Neptune 



.14 .. 



6,15a.m. . . 



1.2" 



. 5.47 .. 22.9 N. 



Moon's Phases. 



h.m. h.m. 



New .. Sep. 5 .. 3.33 a.m. 1st Qr. .. Sep. 12.. 9.49 p.m. 

 Pull .. ,, 19 . . 0.31 p.m. ^rdQr. .. ,, 26.. 3.3 p.m. 

 In apogee September 3rd, at 1 a.m., distant 252,600 

 miles ; in perigee on 18th, at 7 a.m., distant 223,400 

 miles ; and in apogee again on 30th, at noon, dis- 

 tant 252,000 miles. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon. 



iep 



• 3 

 5 

 8 



9 

 12 



Mercury* .. i p.m. 

 Venust . . 2 a.m. 

 Mars" . . 1 p.m. 

 Jupiter . . 7 p.m. 

 Saturn* .. 6 p.m. 

 * Daylig-ht. t Below English 



OCCULTATIONS. 



planet 

 horizon 



4.8 N. 

 6.44 N. 

 4-54 N. 

 4.51 N. 

 i-55 N. 



Sej 



. 



Dis- Angle 



Magni- appears from 



Star. tuiie. h.m. Vertex 



Re- A ngle 



appears from 



h.m. Vertex. 



3 



4 



. I 



. A 1 



Sagittarii . . 5 .. 5.5 p.m. .. 66 

 Taurii ^'5 .. 3.29a.m. ..131 



■ 6.9 p 

 . 4.25 a 



■m. .. 303 



.m. . . 205 



The Sun has of late been in a state of great 

 quietude, but should be watched. On September 23rd 

 at 6 a.m., the sun's centre crosses the equator. 



Mercury is a morning star all the month, reach- 

 ing its greatest elongation, 18 2' west at 7 a.m. on 

 5th September. It is well placed for observation 

 during the first half of the month. On the 3rd it will 

 be only a few degrees distant from the crescent moon. 

 On the 8th it will be less than a degree from the first 

 magnitude star Regulus, or a Leonis. 



Venus is too close to the sun for observation, being 

 in superior conjunction with that orb at 8 a.m. on l6lh 

 of September. 



Mars, Jupiter and Uranus are evening stars, 

 but too close to the sun for successful observation. 



Saturn must be looked for as soon as it is dark 

 enough to be found. 



NEPTUNE rises about 11 p.m. at the beginning of 

 the month, and about two hours earlier at the end. 



Meteors may be seen about September 1st, 2nd, 

 6th, 7th, nth — 13th and 25th. 



Holmes' Comet should be looked for on every 

 available opportunity, and when once found, care- 

 fully watched for change. It will probably be seen 

 on September 1st, not very far from the third magni- 

 tude, variable, double star, Q, Persei. 



Coddington's Comet. — On the 1st it should be 

 placed about a degree and a half north-west of the 

 north-western star R of Orion's belt. 



Allegheny Observatory, Pennsylvania, over 

 which Professor F. L. O. Wadsworth was recently 

 appointed director, is having a 30m. achromatic 

 constructed for it by Mr. Brashear. Subscriptions 

 have been sent in to such a sum, that the observatory 

 will be enabled to occupy a prominent place so far as 

 instrumental appliances are concerned. Astro-physical 

 observations will be the object of its work. 



The McClean Equatorial at the Cape 

 observatory, has a first-class visual telescope of 18 

 inches aperture. The 24m. photographic telescope is, 

 however, not so good, for its outer portions give 

 objects a coma, and in other ways also it is not 

 satisfactory, but Sir Howard Grubb is going to again 

 take it in hand to cure its imperfections. 



New Minor Planet. — Professor Max Wolf, on 

 July 17th, at Heidelberg, picked up a tiny planet, 

 if it proves to be new, the known list is 445. 



Saturn and his rings. — The Spectra given by 

 the planet and the rings, according to Professor 

 George E. Hale, of the Verkes observatory, are found 

 to sensibly differ. A dark band, readily visible in the 

 red portion of the spectrum of the planet, at wave- 

 length 6183 (Vogel), is absent in that of the rings, 

 seeming to demonstrate the absence of the absorption 

 due to an atmosphere to those appendages. 



Verkes Observatory'. — A conference of astrono- 

 mers and astro-physicists is to be held here on the 6th 

 and Sth of September. 



Mars in 189S and 1899. — MM. Camile Flam- 

 marion and Eugene A. Antoniadi have published the 

 results of their observations with the I0"24in. 

 Mailhat telescope at the Juvisy observatory in the 

 " Astronomische Nachrichten," No. 3,581, for July. 

 The paper is illustrated by six drawings and a map, 

 and seems to indicate some well marked changes on 

 the surface. 



The Geodetic Survey of South Africa is 

 making good progress under the direction of Dr. 

 David Gill, Her Majesty's astronomer at the Cape of 

 Good Hope. 



Lick Observatory. — Numbers 3584-5 of the 

 '"Astronomische Nachrichten" are almost entirely 

 taken up with the results of double star observations 

 by Mr. R. G. Aitken, at this observatory during 1S9S. 

 Many of the measurements were made at the request 

 of Professor S. W. Burnham, who is now printing a 

 general catalogue. Mr. Aitken makes it a rale to 

 only use the 36 inch for such stars as are beyond the 

 reach of the 12 inch. 



Professor Robert Wilhelm Eberhard 

 Bu.nsen, who together with Kirchoff did so much 

 towards establishing the true meaning of the lines 

 visible in the spectrum, passed away on August 16th, 

 at Heidelberg, in his 88th year. He was born Got- 

 tingen in 1S1 1. 



Mr. F. C. Dennett has removed from 60, 

 Lenthall Road, Dalston, N.E., to 141, Essex Road, 

 London, N. 



