3+8 



SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



CONDUCTED BY F. C. DENNETT. 



igoo. Rises. 

 Apr. h.m. 

 Sun .. 10 . 5.1 fa a.m. 



20 .. 4.56 

 30 .. 4.36 



Apr. 



Mercury 



Mars 

 Jupiter 

 Saturn 

 Uranus 



Neptune 



Rises 

 h.m. 



0.2 

 5.2 



Ma: 



p.m. 



a.m. 



Sets. 

 h.7?i. 

 . 6.45 p.m. 

 . 7.2 

 . 7.18 



Souths. 



h.m. 

 ■ 9.5 P-m. 



Position at Noon. 

 R.A. Dec. 

 h.m. 

 .. 1. 14 7-53 N - 



1. 51 .. 11.27 

 . . 2.29 .. 14.43 



Sets 

 Ii.m. 



-Age tit Noon, 

 d. h. m. 



4-5 

 1-7 



a.m. 

 p.m. 



3.15 a.m 

 8.12 a.m. 



Souths, 

 h m. 

 ■ . 10.37 a.m. 

 . . 10.22 a.m. 

 . . 10.24 a.m. 

 . . 256 p.m. 

 . . 3.2 p.m. 



3.6 p.m. 

 . . 10.44 a.m. 

 ■ ■ 2 43 a.m 



4.30 a.m. 



2.51 a.m. 

 • 3-52 P-m. 



Semi- R.A. 

 Diameter, h.m. 



9.23 p.m. r 6 37 

 Position at Noon. 



4-9 

 4.0" 

 3-4" 

 9.8" 

 10.8" 



20.0 

 8.0" 



23.50 

 0.14 

 0.56 

 4.9 . 

 4-54 

 S-38 

 0.37 

 16.34 

 18.22 

 16.42 

 5-37 



Dec. 



1.57 S. 



1-5 



=•53 



i.40 



N. 



25-13 

 26.47 

 2.57 £■ 



22J0I: 



22.12 S. 

 22.8 N. 



Moon's Phases. 



h.m. It. in. 



1st Qr... Apr. 6 .. 8.55p.m. Full .. Apr. 15 .. 1.2 am. 

 yrdQr... ,, 22 .. 2.33p.m. A ! cu> .. ,, 29 .. 5.23a.m. 



In apogee April nth at 10 a.m. ; and in perigee on 

 27th at 5 a.m. 



Meteors. 



h.m. 



Apr. 17-25 /3 Pernentids .. Radiant R.A. 15.24 Dec. 17° N. 



,, 17-20 .. Lyrids .. ,, ,, 1S.0 ,, 32 N. 



,, 29-May 6 t) Aquar ds* ,, ,, 22.2S ,, 2 S. 



■•' To lie looked for just before sunrise. 



Conjunctions of Planets with the Moon. 



Apr. 



Venusf 

 Jupiter" s t . . 

 Saturn^f 

 Mercury"^ 

 Mars 5 ! 

 - Daylight. t Belc 



1 a.m. 

 5 p.m. 

 3 P-m. 

 1 p.m 

 7 p.m. 



planet 0.46 N. 



„ x.3 S- 

 7-53 h - 

 5.29 S. 



' English horizon. 

 OCCUI.TATIONS AND NEAR APPROACHES. 



Apr. 



Dis- Angle 



Magni- appears. from 

 Star. tude. k.vi. Vertex. 



a- Tauri . . 4 S 

 . j' Gemirjorum 4.0 . 

 . -i Cancri .. 4.3 . 

 .6 Scorpii . 2.5 . 

 .£- Sagittarii 3.5 

 .0' Capricorn! 5.2 . 



9.30 p.m. 



1.6 a m. 

 11.46 p.m. 

 10.45 p m. 



2.27 a.m. 



3.23 a.m. 



no 



45 



Re- Angle 

 appears, from 

 h.Tn. Vertex. 

 o 



10.22 p.m. . . 263 

 Near approach 

 12.45 p.m. 277 

 Near approach 

 3.42 a.m. . . 267 

 3.57 a.m. .. 337 



The Sun has again been exevting considerable 

 energy. On March 9th two fine spots were seen 

 advancing towards the limb. No trace of them was 

 seen four days previously. 



Mercury is a morning star all the month, in 

 Pisces, reaching its greatest western elongation, 

 27° 19', at 3 a.m. on April 22nd, but badly placed 

 for observation, rising only about half an hour before 

 the sun. 



Venus is an evening star, in good position all the 

 month. It is in Taurus, and at midnight on April 28th 

 reaches its greatest elongation, 45 30' east. Tlu- 

 planet cannot well be better placed, not setting until 

 about four and a half hours after the sun. 



Mars is too close to the sun for observation. 



Jupiter rises nearly a quarter of an hour before 

 midnight on the 1st, and two hours earlier on 

 April 30th. 



Saturn rises about two hours later than T u piter. 

 Both are too far south for very successful observation. 



Uranus is very near to Jupiter, coming to the 

 meridian only a few minutes later than that planet, 

 and situated just over a degree farther to the south. 



Neptune at the end of the month will be found 

 about four and a half degrees to the south of Venus. 



Giacobini's Comet (a 1900) is estimated by M. 

 Javelle to be equal to 13th magnitude, and therefore 

 is out of the reach of small instruments. On the 

 afternoon of April 28th it will be in perihelion. 



The Isaac Newton Studentship, at Cam- 

 bridge University, of the annual value of ^200, for 

 three years, has been awarded to J. Hopwood Jeans, 

 B.A. , of Trinity College. 



Apparent Enlargement op Celestial 

 Objects near the Horizon is a subject which 

 from time to time causes much correspondence. A 

 paper from Mr. J. D. Hardy and a note from 

 Rev. Joseph Allen were read on the subject at the 

 meeting of the British Astronomical Association on 

 February 28th, and led to considerable discussion. 

 No very definite conclusions, however, have been 

 reached. 



Dr. Karl Theodor Luther has just passed 

 away in his seventy-eighth year. So far back as 1834 

 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Astro- 

 nomical Society. On April 17th, 1852, Dr. Luther 

 discovered, at Bilk, the 17th minor planet, Thetis. 

 This was but the first of some four-and-twenty of 

 these bodies ; he likewise calculated the orbits of 

 many others. For a long time he had been Direclor 

 of the Dlisseldorf Observatory. 



Professor Piazzi Smyth, son of the late 

 Admiral W. PI. Smyth, has also died. Previous to 

 his resignation in 1S88, he was for many years 

 Astronomer Royal for Scotland, and once made an 

 expedition to Teneriffe to observe the celestial 

 objects under more favourable atmospheric condi- 

 tions. A popular account of this visit is given in his 

 book on " Teneriffe," illustrated by stereoscopic 

 views. He was well known as holding most singular 

 views respecting the Great Pyramid, which were 

 given to the world in " Our Inheritance in the Great 

 Pyramid" in 1S64. The late R. A. Proctor, in 1S84. 

 ruthlessly shattered his contentions. 



The Total Eclipse op the Sun. — We are 

 sorry to hear that there is danger of the British 

 Astronomical Association expedition to Portugal, 

 Spain, and Algiers falling through, only two-thirds 

 of the requisite number having booked their passage. 

 It had been hoped that the Royal Mail Steamship 

 Tagits would have conveyed the party to Oporto, 

 Alicante, or Algiers, and afterwards collected the 

 members and brought them home. Those who 

 remained on the Portuguese coast would have the 

 greatest chance of disappointment. An effort will 

 be made by Mr. Nevil Maskelyne to obtain a kine- 

 matographic record of the eclipse from an American 

 station. We trust that on this occasion the attempt 

 will prove successful. 



