Natural Philosophy. — Astrooiomy. 3'79 
some unknown modification of refraction, and he has found 
that, at the winter solstice, an irregularity of refraction takes 
place for the sun, greater than for the stars at the same zenith 
distance. See Phil. Trans. 1819, p. 241. 
2. Aberration of Light. — Dr Brinkley has found the maxi- 
mum aberration of light to be 20". 80, much greater than it has 
been believed to be. This result has been confirmed by 
M. Bessel, who, from several investigations in the Greenwich 
observations of Dr Bradley, makes the maximum 20'^. 70. See 
Phil. Trans. 1819, p. 246. 
3. Transparency of the Comet of 1819. — Dr Olbers having 
calculated that the comet of 1819 would pass over the sun’s 
disc on the 26th of J une 1819, it became desirable to ascertain 
if any spots were seen on the sun’s disc at that time. Major- 
General Lindener of Glatz, had fortunately observed the sun 
on that day at 5, 6 and 7 o’clock, with a good telescope of 
Ramsden’s, but no spot was visible. , On the 27th, in the morn- 
ing, he observed a small spot. 
4. New Comet. — M. Blanpain has discovered at Marseilles, 
a comet in the constellation Virgo. On the 28th Nov. at 5**, its 
right ascension was 180° 31V and deck 0°20' S. On the 2d Dec. 
at 5^, its right ascension was 185° 6', and its deck 2° 20' N. 
5. Solar Eclipse of the 1th September 1820. — The following 
list of places where this eclipse will be annular^ has been com- 
municated to us by Mr Charles Rumker of Hamburg. The 
calculations for Hamburg w^ere made by himself, and for the 
other places by M. Gerling. 
Places. 
Mean Time. 
Shortest dis- 
tance of the 
centers. 
Place of the, 
first impres- 
sion from the 
zenith of the 
0to thevvest. 
Beginning. 
Middle. 
End. 
Gottingen, 
pi 14' 27' 
2h 41' 04" 
4h0ri2" 
16'41 
(tr 
Seeberg, 
1 19 46 
2 46 17 
4 6 10 
23.5 
09 
Bremen, 
1 06 00 
2 32 21 
3 52 42 
14.6 . 
65 
Hamburg, 
1 11 10 
2 36 11 
3 36 56 
44.4 . 
65 1 
Manheim, 
1 10 31 
2 38 19 
3 59 09 
38.0 
64 
6. Astronomical Society in London.^W e congratulate the 
friends of science on the recent establishment of an Astronomi- 
B b 2 
