22 



SCIENCE. 



ASTRONOMY. 



THE LATE PARTIAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, 



AND PENNULE'S COMET. 

 To the Editor of " Science :" 



Though rather late in the day, I send the results of 

 our eclipse observations on the morning- of December 30 

 and 31 : I observed the last contact with the diffraction 

 spectroscope attached to the g}4 inch equatorial. The 

 observation was made through the C line, the slit being 

 tangential to the hmb at the point cf contac', and some- 

 what widely opened. AJthough the air was very unsteady, 

 and the seeing simply "horrible," yet the instant of the 

 moon's leaving the limb of the sun, as shown by the 

 sudden reappearance of the chromosphere, was well 

 marked. The time was 20'' 49 m 5i s .o ± o\5, Princeton 

 mean time, or 20 11 40"' 16 s . 5 Washington mean time. 



Mr. McNeill, with a telescope of 3 inches aperture and 

 power of about 40, lost sight of the moon at 20'' 49"' 36 s 

 P.M. T., 15 seconds earlier. 



I may mention in this connection that Pennule's comet, 

 as observed here December 1 8th, 19th and 22d, showed 

 two faint tails. One of them was directed, as usual, very 

 nearly opposite to the sun. The other was pointed 

 roughly towards the sun, though deflected some degrees 

 toward the north ; the two streamers made an argle of 

 about 1 50° with each other. Each was about 30' long on 

 the 18th, and neither was seen after the 22d. 



C. A. Young. 



Princeton, N. J., January 12, 1881. 



To the Editor of " Science :" 



Mr. Edwin F. Sawyer has ghen a very interesting de- 

 scription ("Science" No. 19. p. 236), of the iarge bolide 

 of October 25, and the special meteor stream, to which it 

 probably owed its origin, is one which merits prominent 

 notice from the fac^tthat it supplies fireballs of the largest 

 type. 



I have collected accounts of no less than 26 bolides, 

 seen during the interval October 26 to November 9, within 

 the last 15 years, which distinctly radiattd from this re- 

 markable shower near £ Arietis. 



I saw a large meteor belonging to it on Oct. 30, (g'^o" 1 ), 

 1880. While engaged in telescopic observation I was 

 somewhat startled by two prolonged brilliant flashes, 

 which caused me to tuin quickly and I saw at once a 

 very intense meteor streak projected on the sky just S. of 

 a Arietis. It was broken in the middle and endured 25 

 seconds. Its position was from 38°+ 18 3 to 26° + 22°. 



I received a letter the following day. from Mr. I. 

 Baxendell, F. R. A. S., of Southport, Saying he had ob- 

 served a large meteor on October 29, at 9 1 ' 50"', with a 

 path from 31—1^° to l6° — 17°. The time agreed ex- 

 actly with that recorded at Bristol, and the two paths 

 gave the radiant at 46°+ 15", which agrees fairly well with 

 that of the notable shower alluded to by Mr. Sawyer. 



In further confirmation I may add that on November 

 1, io 1 ' 50"', Mr. H. Corder, of Chelmsford, observed a 

 bright meteor = Jupiter, which had an apparent path 

 from 275 + 56 ' to 257' +43" and obviously took its de- 

 parture from the same radiant as that of the fireballs of 

 October 25 and 30. 



W. F. Denning. 



Ashley Down, Bristol, England. 



The " Report of the Kew Committee for the year end- 

 ing October 31, 1880," contains some interesting infor- 

 mation connected with an institution which is engaged 

 in a department of research not, as yet, covered by any 

 observatory in this country. The work at Kew is di- 

 vided into seven sections : — Magnetic observations ; Me- 

 teorological observations ; Solar observations ; Experi- 

 mental in connection with either of the above depart- 



ments ; Verification of instruments ; Aid to other Ob- 

 servatories ; Miscellaneous. 



The Magnetic observations, embracing the automatic- 

 ally registered curves of the Magnetograph, and obser- 

 vations of Declination, Dip, Deflection and Vibration, 

 seem to indicate the approach of a more disturbed period 

 than has occurred for several years. In order to collect 

 more accurate data relating to this subject, arrange- 

 ments have been made with other magnetic observatories 

 in different parts of the globe to carry on a series of syn- 

 chronous observations, and the comparison of the results 

 will probably throw some light upon the laws which 

 govern many of these phenomena. In the Meteorolog- 

 ical department, self-recording instruments for the con- 

 tinuous registration, respectively, of atmospheric pressure, 

 humidity, wind (direction and velocity) and rain have 

 been maintained in regular operation throughout the 

 year, in addition to standard eye observations made five 

 times daily for the control of the automatic records. 

 Abstracts of the meteorological results are published 

 weekly. 



Observations of the sun were made on 246 days, and 

 on only 27 of those days was the sun's surface found to 

 be without spots. A complete copy of the solar draw- 

 ings made by Schwabe between 1825 and 1867 having 

 been obtained, the Obseivatory has now in its posses- 

 sion a complete record of the condition of the sun's sur- 

 face from November, 1825, to the present date. Transit 

 observations of the sun have also been obtained at in- 

 tervals to correct the local time. 



The Experimental department embraces work upon a 

 " Winstaneley's Recording Radiograph," for registering 

 the amount of radiation from the sky, a " Glycerine 

 Barometer," a " Standard Air Thermometer," and various 

 other instruments. A large nunber of meteorological 

 instruments have been verified and their constants de- 

 termined for other Observatories and for instrument 

 makers, and facilities for study and experiment have been 

 furnished to a number of individuals interested in the 

 various branches of the institution. 



The new observatory which is being erected at Nice 

 under the auspices of the Bureau des Longitudes, will 

 probably cost over two million francs. The buildings 

 are partly finished, and Thollon has already done some 

 excellent work there, in spectroscopy. Besides a small 

 equatorial, a meridian circle, and accessory instruments, 

 there is to be a large equatorial of 29.9 in. aperture and 

 59 ft. focal length, constructed by M. M. Henry, of the 

 Paris Observatory. W. C. W. 



Washington, D. C, January 12, 1881. 



THE OBSERVATORIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 

 1. 



Carleton College Observatory, Northfield, Minn. 



The United States is fortunate in possessing a greater 

 number of well equipped astronomical observatories than 

 any other country in the world. These are distributed 

 over a wide extent of territory, ranging from the shores 

 of the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, and extending from 

 I the tropical regions of the Gulf of Mexico, to Lake 

 Superior on the North. 



A brief description of some of these Observatories and 

 the appliances at their command may be of interest to 

 our readers, and we propose on this occasion to offer 

 some interesting facts regarding one which has been 

 I more recently organized. 



The course of instruction in Astronomy at Carleton 

 I College, Northfield, Minn., appears to be well organized, 

 I and, although the College was fully organized so recently 

 as 1874, it appears to have a well equipped astronomical 

 [ observatory and every requirement for teaching Astron- 

 1 omy. We are informed by Professor W. W. Payne, in 



