130 
Vvered it in 1795; its position being in 
right ae ie 279° 9%’, declination 
5° 56’ A, June 1796: its smallest lustre 
1796, 17th of September, and 18th of 
Nov ember; 1797, 14th of May 
of August; 1798, 29th of July and 15th 
or September ; 1799, 7th of August and 
11th of October; 1800, 14th of July aud 
24th of Se ptember ; 1801, 9th of August. 
Ninth magnitude or invisible. 
Part of these observations were Whole 
at Fontainbleau in 1808, before the Na 
tional Institute had obtained liberty for 
M. Pigot to return to Britain. , 
Mr. Herschel has examined the effect 
which would be produced by the oo 
ment of the solarsystem. He reduces to 1° 
5” the proper annual movenient of six prin- 
cipal stars, supposing that the sun was 
directed towards 245° 52” of right as- 
cension, and 49° $88’ of declination. 
Maskelyne had 53” for the sum of the-six 
annual movements of these six stars; 
the surplus i is the effect of the displace- 
ment of the sun. \ 
Mr. Herschel has given some ohserva- 
‘tions on the singular figure of Saturn. 
On the 12th of April, 1805, with a seven- 
foot telescope, which rendered objects 
more than ordin arily distinet, and which 
maenified 570 times, he found the ring 
whiter, and Saturn yellowish. 
With a ten-foot telescope, which mag- 
nified 527 times, he found the four points 
of the greatest curvature at 43°; he 
compares it to a parallelogram, the four 
corners of which are rou nded: 
With a forty-foot telescope, magnifying 
360 times, the appearances were the 
same. The axis 1s 32°, the equator 35° ; 
and the diameter of the greatest curva- 
ture 60°. He discovers in this the effect 
of gravitation on the figure of the oa 
nets; there being in this case two cent 
petal, and two centrifugal powers i 
he has proved the two rotations of the 
planet, and of the ring. 
The. most distant ring turns sensibly. 
The divisions, as well as the space be- 
tween the rinys,-are obscure. 
The publication of the second volume of 
Bradley’s Observations for 1756, and sub- 
sequent years, 1s interesting to astrono- 
ners. Those of his successor are added, 
and this volume joins the frst of Maske- 
elyne, which commenced in 1765. © 
Among the. curious and interesting ob- 
servations made in the course of the last 
year, we mayreckon that of the ennwel pa-. 
pallax of the stars, which M. Cz alandreili 
thought he recognized in several stars. 
M. ai had given some results upon 
4 
rte s History of oe for 4306. 
and 7th- 
[Sept. J, 
ane subject, which I noticed in my His- 
tory of the preeetiins year. The parallax 
of the Lyre in declination is 0°875 of the 
absolute parallax, and passes very near 
to the zenith. M. Piazzi observed it 
very seduicusly; but we are mclined to 
draw a very diferent conclusion from 
his observations than that which he 
wishes to establish, viz. that the parallax 
of the stars has hitherto. escaped our 
meastrements; if it were even suffici- 
eutly large to adenit of being measured, 
the declination would not always be the 
surest method to employ. ‘To conclude, 
M. Piazzi proposes to continue his re- 
searches; and M. Calandrelli, at Rome, 
has given two memoirs on the parallax of 
the Lyre. 
Roma, 1806, in 8vo. Rissuliato de 
varie Osservuziont sopra la Parallasse un- 
nua di Wega. The parailax, is found to be 
5’ with a nine-foot sector. _The obser- 
vations agree sufnciently well to warrant 
him in supposing that this parallax really 
exists; which has not hitherto been be- 
lieved, 
We received in the month of Decem- 
ber some Opuscult astronomict. printed at 
Rome by Messrs. Caiandrelli and Conti, 
twenty pages in quarto, whereim are con- 
tained six memotrs, one of which is on 
the annual parallax of the Lyre, which 
he fnds as at 4° 4”; another upon the 
opposition to the planet Herschel 1805, 
aud a third on the elements of its orbit. 
The remaining papers are on the eclipse 
of the sun in 1806, observed at Rome 
and Padtia, and. Caleaahee ‘by M. Conti, 
on the methéd of corresponding altitudes, 
and on a nonagesimal table for the lati- 
tude of Rome. 
The paral Tax of 40 4” onal reduce the 
distance of the 1. yre to 1600 millions of 
leagues instead of 7000; but as the pa- 
rallax of neht ascension of the Lyre va- 
ries much more than the parallax of de- 
clination, itis to be wished that this me- 
thod were employed for clearing up this 
curlous question. 
The greatest parallax of the Lyre in night 
ascension is between the end of May and 
the end of September; in ig PIER pon 
between the end of June and the end of 
December; and as it was towards the 
month of August that it has been most ob- 
served, passing the meridian at eight 
9) ’clock, it is possible that the difference 
may have ceapes the most exact ob- 
servers, ; 
The pro'ongation of our meridian un 
dertaken this year, cannot fail *te prove 
interesting to astronomers. We think it, 
~ therefore, 
% 
