VoL. IV.] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
History oF ASTRONOMY FOR THE 
YEAR 1796, BEING THE: FourTH 
YEAR OF THE Frenew RePpuBrie. 
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENGH 
OF JEROME LALANDE, 
TTHE eftablifhment of the National In- 
ftitute, on the 6th December, 1793; 
the regulations which have been pre- 
fcribed for the conduét of ir, on the sth of 
June, 1796; and the premiums propofed 
by the Inftirute, for the invention of the 
beft watch, confifting each of a gold me- 
dal of the weight of a kilogramiie, or 
3200 livres, promife to prove of effential 
fervice to the progrefs and improvement 
of aftronomy. 
Towards the end of February, I had 
the fatisfa€tion to receive from citizen 
Lenoir, an entire circle of nineteen inches, 
an inftrument which I had upwards of 
two years been in expectation of, by means 
of which citizen !é Frangois. has already 
determined the latitude of Paris, 48 de- 
grees, 56 minutes, 15 feconds—the obli- 
quity of the ecliptic, 23 degrees, 28 
Minutes, 1 fecond, at the end of June, 
1796, being greater. by eight feconds, 
than ffated in the tables of the fun, which — 
accompany 
aftronomy. 
Citizen, Mechain,.at Perpignan, has 
made exactly the fame calculation; but as 
other obfervations give %2 feconds lefs, 
we will referve the’ difcuffion of this 
queftion to a future oppartunity, 
‘The Board of Longitude has fent tocitizen 
Duc la Chapell, jun. at Montauban, the 
fextant, of fix feet, with which Lacaille 
made his laft dofervations 5 this ingenious 
aftronomer has taken feveral obfervations 
this year, which he propofes to print. 
March 31ft, M. Olbers difcovered, at 
Bremen, a comet inthe Virgin; he has 
accurately obferved it, and calculated the 
elements. This comet is the 8th which 
has been recorded, ccording to the. cata- 
logue given in my altronomy.\ Its errors 
from the 3r1ft of March, tothe 14th of 
April, only once amounted fo high as 
fix minutes. . 
Node, o figns t7*degrees, 2 minutes. 
Inclination, 64° 5;/. 
Perihelion, 6 figns 12° 44! 
Diftance of perihelion, 1.578. 
Paffage, on 2d April, 1796, 20 hours, 
23 minutes. Comet retrogade. 
The oppofition of Mars, happened on 
the 14th of June, on which reafon the 
error difcovered in my tables of 54 feconds, 
induced me to. examine the equation 
ef this planet, comparing this oppofitien 
; Me 
the third edition of my 
—~ 
‘ 
Laland’s Hiftory -of Aftronomy. 
54% 
with the one in 1788, which was in the 
contrary part of its orbit. On this occafion, 
I ‘accurately obferved the perturbations, 
which I had negleéted to do, till now, ’ 
alchough I had given a calculation f them 
in 1758 and 1761. I have found that it 
1s neceflary to add about 1¢ feconds to the 
equation of Mars, ftared in my lalt tables; 
but I do not propofe to make an’ altera- 
tion, till citizen De'ambre thall have 
made a frefh calculation of the perturba- 
tions, which he means to do, as foon as 
he fhail accaniplifh his prand undertakine 
San ‘ Biel 5? 
re{peéting the meridian, which has in- 
terrupted his refearches, as well as thofe 
of citizen Mechain, for two years. 
The equation of Mats, according to 
the refult. of my neweft obfervations, will 
be-lefs by 48 feconds than that mentioned 
by M. Triefnecker, im that part of his 
memoir where he makes ufe of the per- 
turbations (Ephem. de Vienne, 1789). 
The oppofition of Mars was obferved 
by M. Zach, at Gotha, the 14th of June, 
1796, and iafted 14 hours, 49 minutes, 
30 feconds, in 8 figns, 24 degrees, 34 mi- 
nutes, 37 feconds of the apparent equi- 
nox. Latitude 3 degrees, 37 minutes, 
$4; feconds fouth, latitude. Helhiocen- 
tric, 1 degree, 6 minutes, 9 feconds. 
Error inmy tables lefs than ss feconds 
longitude: but upwards of 78. feconds 
latitude. | 
The conjunétion of Venus, obferved on 
the 6th of Auguft, by citizen le Fran- 
Cols, gives an error in my. tables from 
five to fix feconds: and as Venus was 
aphelion, this circumftance affords a farif. 
factory confirmation, of the derermination 
which I have given of this difficult ele. - 
ment (Mémoires de l’Acaiemie, £785). 
M: de Zach, ‘of Gorha, found an error 
in my tables, on the 2gth of June, of ras 
ther more than four feconds in longitude, 
and lefs than rs feconds in latitude. 
The oppofition of Jupiter, obferved the 
agth of Auguft by Bouvard, gives an 
error in the tables of Delambre, of feven 
feconds. This 1s a convincing proof of the 
grand inequality announced by Laplace 
the roth of May, 1786. 
fn the oppofition of Saturn, the rsth 
December, 1796, the error of the tables 
proves to be lefs than 31 feconds., This 
affords a confirmation of this dilcovery, 
and of the fkill with which Delambre has 
conftructed his tables of Jupiter and 
Saturn. ‘i a 
The eclipfe of the 4th ftar in Sagir. 
tarius is a rare and fingular obferyation, 
made at Viviers by FJ]. Caugergue, and in 
England, by M, Englefield. I'he former 
of 
