354 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [Nov. 
and the dark edging on the violet side appeared in connection with four 
more of the bright lines. 
On June 15, at 10 p.m., Hy appeared brighter ; another light line 
appeared between H& and Hy. The space between the bright lines in 
the green and blue was divided up into bands alternately light and dark. 
A bright line was now seen beside the dark one in the green, which had 
increased in darkness. 
On June 24 eleven bright lines could be seen, but some had changed 
in relative brightness. The lazulite band between H (3 and Hy had 
become brighter and very much more diffused. The one in the orange- 
yellow was brighter than before. .The dark edgings could now be seen 
only to the bright lines in the red and orange. Clouds kept coming over, 
and the red and blue bands, Ha and H/3, shone out clearly when everything 
else had faded away. 
On June 29 only seven of the bright lines could be seen, and the same 
two dark edgings as before. Mr. E. 0. Jones noticed a narrow dark line 
dividing the bright red Ha, and he suspected a similar division in H/3. 
On July 5 and 6 the spectrum differed very little from that of June 29, 
but a bright line in the yellow on the violet side of D had grown brighter. 
The band between H/3 and Hy had become even more diffused. 
On July 10 a line in the green had brightened considerably, and another 
faint bright line had been added to the group in the yellow on the green 
side of the others. 
On July 12 the bright line in the green was as bright as Hd. 
On July 17 H/3 had regained its supremacy. 
On July 30 the line in the green appeared to be the brightest in the 
whole spectrum, and this distinction it has since maintained. 
Drawings made on August 3, 5, 10, and 17 show hardly any change 
in the spectrum, the same eight bright lines and two dark ones remaining 
visible, with slight changes in relative brightness. 
On October 5 the line in the green was far the brightest in the 
spectrum. 
The red ring referred to by Mr. Ward and others which is seen surrounding the 
image of the Nova within the focus is a remarkable phenomenon due to the concen¬ 
tration of the greater part of the star’s light in certain definite wave-lengths. It is 
not seen in the Wellington College telescope (5|in. objective), as the objective is 
photovisually corrected, but at Wanganui (9| in. objective) it is most striking. As 
the eye-piece is racked inwards the image becomes surrounded by a brilliant crimson 
ring of Ha light which is perfectly sharp on the outside and only slightly diffused within. 
When the eye-piece is racked outwards the red appears in the centre, and in one 
position the H/3 light appears as a greenish-blue ring round the image. It is not 
sharp like the red ring, because it is blurred by the light of the other more refrangible 
bright lines. At the time of this observation (August 28) the visible spectrum ended 
abruptly at the Ha line in the red, but was continued some distance beyond Hy in the 
violet. 
Notes by J. T. Ward, Hon. Director, Wanganui Observatory. 
1918, June 10.—Nova reported by Dr. C. E. Adams, Government 
Astronomer, Wellington, observed here. Sky thick, with short openings. 
The Nova estimated to be equal to or slightly brighter than Canopus, at 
about 9 hours, when the two bodies had nearly the same zenith distance. 
The position as found here was K.A. 18 h. 44 m. 20 s.; dec. N. 0° 28'. 
Using a small McClean Browning spectroscope on the 9J in. Cooke refractor, 
