376 



SCIENCE^ G OSSIP. 



CONDUCTED BY F. C. 



DENNETT. 

 Position at Noon. 



1900. 

 May 



May 



Rises. 



k.nt. 



4.18 a.m.. 

 • 4-4 

 T 3.52 

 Rises. 

 h.nt. 



3.29 p.m.. 



. 5.27 a.m.. 



Sets. 

 h.jH. 

 7.34 p.m. 

 7.48 

 8.2 



Souths. 

 h.vi. 



9.5 p.m. 

 4.44 a.m. 

 1.43 p.m. 



R.A. 



h.7n. 



• 3.8 



S-47 



4.27 



Sets, 

 h.nt. 



Dec. 



o / 



17-35 N. 



19-57 



21.45 



Mcvcu}'}' 



Mars 



fupitcr 



Saturn 



Uranus 



Neptune 



May 



Souths, 



k 7)1. 



. . 10.40 a.m. 

 . 1 1. II a.m. 



II.; 



i.m. 



3.8 p.m. 

 3-4 P-m. 

 2.53 p.m. 

 10,11 a.m. 

 0.32 a.m. 

 2.28 a.m. 

 0.48 a.m. 

 1.50 p.m. 



S c nil- 

 Diameter . 

 .. 3.0" .. 



. . 2.6" . 



2.1' 



21.0" 



8.3" 



1.8" 



Phases. 



A^e at Noon, 

 d. h. m. 

 2.12 a.m. II 6 37 

 9.42 a.m. 21 6 37 

 g.54 p.m. I 21 10 



Position at Noon. 



R.A. 



h. in. 

 1.52 

 3-2 

 4.28 

 6.19 . 

 6.55 

 7.23 

 2.2 



16.21 



18.17 

 16.38 

 5.41 



Dec. 



o / 



8.55 N. 

 16.1 

 22.24 

 26.55 N. 

 26.13 

 24.52 

 11.40 N. 

 20.35 S. 

 22.22 S. 

 22.3 s. 



22.11 N. 



Moon's 



h.in. 



1-39 P-m- 

 8.31 p.m. 



In apogee May 9th at 2 a.m. 

 24tb at 6 p.m. 



Meteors. 



jst Qr. . . May 6 

 IfdQr... „ 21 



Pull . 



Netu 



k.ni. 

 May 14 -. 3.37 p.m. 

 ,, 28 .. 2.50p.m. 



and in perigee on 



Apr. 29 May 6 tj Aquarids* . . Radiant R.A. 22. 28 Dec. 2° S. 



May 3-9 a Serpentids . . ,, ,, 15.36 ,, 10° N. 



,j 5-June 17a Scorpiids .. ,, ,, 16.56 ,j 21° S. 



,, 15 -. T) Aquilids .. ,, ,, 19.36 ,, 0° 



,, 2g-June 4 tj Pegasids ,, ,, 22.12 ,, 27° N. 



* To be looked for just before sunrise. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon. 



May = .. 



Venus* .. 5 p.m. 

 Jupitert •• 7 p.m. . 

 Saturnf -. 7 p.m. . 

 Mars* .. 2 p.m. . 



planet 4.55 N. 



1.13N. 



„ ..4 s. 



,, 3.41 b. 



,, 28 .. Mercury .. 11 a.m. .. ,, 0.20 S. 



,, 31 •• Venus .. 10 p.m. .. ,, 6.5 N. 



^' Daylight. t Eelow English horizon. 



Occultations and Near Approaches. 



May Star. 



Dis- Angle 

 Magni- appears. front 

 tude. h.m. I'erte.x. 



Re- Angle 

 appears, /ront 

 h.m. Vertex. 



I . . t Tauri 

 5.. A' Cancri 

 6 , . w Leonis 



.. 4.7 •• 8.58 p.m. .. 71 .. 

 .. 5.6 .. 11.48 p.m. .. 84 .. 

 .. 5.6 .. II. X p.m. .. 40 .. 



9.48 p.m. .. 224 

 0.42 a.m. .. 240 

 11.51 p.m. .. 290 



The Sun should be watched, as spots are appearing 

 at more frequent intervals. 



Mercury is a morning star until 30th, when it 

 comes into superior conjunction at 7 a.m., but too 

 near the sun, however, to be observed except in 

 daytime. 



Venus is a splendid evening star all the month, 

 Hearing its greatest brilliancy, situated in Gemini. 



Mars is in conjunction with Mercury at 4 a.m. on 

 May 4th, 2° 10' north of that planet. It is a morn- 

 ing star, but too near the sun for observation. 



Jui'ITEK is in opposition with the sun at 7 p.m. 

 on May 27th, and therefore in the most favourable 

 position for observation. Its great south declination ' 

 is, however, much against good observation. It is 

 situated in Scorpio, nearly 6° north of Antares. 



.S.'\TURN comes to the meridian about two hours 

 later than Jupiter, but is even more unfavourably 

 placed for observation. 



UR.4NUS is a degree and a half farther south than 

 Jupiter, and comes to the meridian about 17 jninutes 

 later. 



Neptune is too near the sun for successful obser- 

 vation. 



Eclipse of the Sun, May 28th. — The path 

 of total shadow crosses Mexico, the Ignited States 

 (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South and North 

 Carolina), the North Atlantic Ocean, Portugal and 

 Spain, from Ovar to Cape Santa Pola, Algeria, 

 Tunis and, at the time of sunset, Egypt. In England 

 it will be visible as a partial eclipse, beginning 146*^ 

 west of the Vertex at 2.47 p.m. as seen from Green- 

 wich. The greatest phase will be at 3. 54 '9, at which 

 time 0'6Si of the sun's diameter (= i-o) will be 

 obscured. The Eclipse ends 69° east of the Vertex 

 at 4.57'5 p.m. At all places north of Greenwich the 

 magnitude of the eclipse, and also its duration, will 

 be reduced. 



Rotation Period oe Venus. — We are glad to 

 hear that Dr. Belopolsky, of Moscow, is announced 

 to have confirmed the short rotation period (:)f this 

 planet by means of four spectrograms. 



A New Minor Planet was observed on Feb- 

 ruary 22nd by M. Charlois, of the Nice Observatory. 



Brilliant IMeteor. — On Sunday evening, 

 April I, Mr. W. J. Reynolds, observing from 

 Woodford, in Essex, saw a most brilb'ant meteor, 

 many times brighter than A^enus, travel from close 

 by that planet to within 2° of the moon's terminator, 

 brightening just before its disappearance. It was at 

 7h. lom. 15s. p.m., and therefore very nearly day- 

 light. It was So intensely white as to make the 

 moon look dull-orange in comparison. 



The Coming Solar Eclipse. — At the meeting 

 of the British Astronomical Assoaiation, on March 28, 

 Mr. E. W. Maunder suggested that at the time of 

 greatest obscuration attempts should be made here 

 in England to photograph the corona. This would 

 need a photographic telescope on an equatorial stand 

 with a rigidly fixed guiding telescope. At the same 

 time it would be advisable to just stop out the image 

 of the sun by the help of a small diaphragm. 



M. Emmanuel Liais has passed away. He was 

 born at Cherbourg in 1826. After being a pupil ot 

 MM. Arago and Leverrier he held a post at the 

 Paris Observatory. In 1858 he went to South 

 America to observe the solar eclipse. His remark- 

 able drawing showed many of the details now revealed 

 more perfectly by photography. He became Director 

 of the Observatory at Rio de Janeiro. He discovered 

 Comet I., i860. In 1S59M. Lescarbault, a physician 

 of Orgeres, in France, announced the observation of 

 the transit of an intra-Mercurial planet ; but M. 

 Liais was fortunately observing the sun with a better 

 instrument at the same time, and was able to show 

 that, whatever the object was, it was certainly not 

 the planet in question. He returned to France in 

 1881, and at the time of his death he was .Mayor of 

 Cherbourg. 



