ROUGH ASTRONOMICAL NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 4138, 1 June 1876, Page 4

ROUGH ASTRONOMICAL NOTES.

?•-: ' ■' ■ ■ • S fa • •—■ • • Vv Ju«E,1876. |{jj y.Tha Sun enters Cancer at about 2 p.in.orithe j Hist and winter commences. Spots ’on the sun a during May were few aud-very small. A fine facula, s] or bright spot, hpwever, was sqen on the 14th of - r , th<T month. ■ g In otic last month's “ Notes ” it was said that light from the aunfeaches ns in lesfi than eight. ■ t Urinates. Fizbau’s experiments for determining the i B velocity of light would give such’ aresult, but .. t Pqncanlt’a rayplving mirror . experiment would . (1 show the time to be somewhat more than eight minutes. It shonld’bw added that the latter result c is now universally allowed to bo nearer’the'truth than the former. ■ , ■ . i 8. The,, Moon will be in apogee on the 9th at x abarit-,8 an., s»d in perigee on the 22nd at , about 3 p.m. -The.phases will take place as fol- f lows-. ,; i Prill Moon, June 7th, Ohrs. 7min. p.m. j Last Quarter, June 16th, 2hrs. 4tmin. p.m. , 1 New Moon, June 22nd, 9hxs. 47min. ’Kmt Jl .i f First Quarter, June 29th,-2hrs. 44min. a.m, > • 1 TKe moon will make a pretty near approach to j the bright red star Anfates on the eveuriig of the oth. The following are, approximately, the cfrbvmstances of the appnlseLeast distance of limb of the moon from;.the, star, .SJmiri. qtartf; : time of nearest - approach* .* 6hrs. : 12$min. p.m.; angle, SOOdegs. from the N. Point, reckoned towards the ■ left hand round-the cirumferenoo of- the moon’s image as seen in an inverting telescope: The.moon will be pritty near Jupiter on the evening of the sth; and near Saturn on the morning of the 14th. *3. Mercury will ba in inferior conjunction with the Hnn ori the 16th. He will be visible in the mornings at about tbe end of the month. .He should'be looked for an hour before sunrise about sdeg. Bonth. of the Sun’s track. On the 30th he will be, distant some 2ideg. from Zeta Tauri, and nsarly S. of that star. . , 4. Venus is in the constellation Gemini, about 4deg. S. of Pollux. This planet is now a superb object, and can be easily sqen in the middle of the day when the weather is fine. Venus will be at her greatest, brilliancy on the evening of the 7th, At that period the moon will be full, but three or four days later, it a sheet of white paper he plac d on the ground so that the planet’s light may fall upon it, it will be found that a pencil held between the paper and Venus will cast a very distinct shadow upon the paper. The phase of Venus is now like that of the Moon about two days before First Quarter. This appearance may be well made out in tnedaytimewithagoodopera-glasswhentheweather is fine, but in the evening the glare is too great, and the planet looks like an extremely bright star, when viewed through such an instrument. It is hoped that anyorio who will attend to thefollowingAimple directions will be able to find the planet : on any fine day during the-first fortnight of. June. At,ten o’clock or some later.hour observe the position of the Sun in the sky by bringing an object, such as the corner of a chimney or the top of a tree; into a line with the *nn, carefully noting your station at the time of observation. Then: occupying the same station after the lapse of about 2hrs Ssmin (in the first week of June, or 2hrs 40min in the second week) yon wilf find the planet tolerably olese to the pfapA which the Sun had filled at the time of the first observation. Venus will be stationary on the 22nd of the month. . Trie apparent diameter of Venus is now 33aec; at the end of tho month it "Will he more than Slsec. Venus now sets.'at about 7hrs22tnin. p.m. 5. Marais unfavorably situated for observation. Jupiter is 'now pretty rapidly retrograding; that Is to say; he is moving from, eastto west among tho stars, and'is already about I7miu of Eight Ascension-within the constellation Libra.He rises . ndW'irifalldaylight.and may be seeniu tbo cast at •onset or a little after, when the weather is fine. Jupiter sets at about (ihrs 22min a.m. His apparent diameter is aboutf of arc. (The appearances noted last month have since been verified, with -one exception.;. there seems to be no bright central Mue,Me,wifiole of the space between the two daik boirders of the belu being Ui o wriish’yellow, With dark and brighter streaks running along it: one of tho dark-streaks ,i»: particularly distinct. On tho other eide o/ the planet A large white spot of a very singular character has been noticed. This-is on Jupiter's equatorial belt. The spot is circular, or •lightly elliptical,.and is surrounded by a dark ring. The spot is - (roua lily.) about one-half the breadth of the equatorial belt, and the circumference of the ring surrounding it extends nearly to tbe ontei limits of the.belt. Itmay be easily seen in flue weather with a three inch instrument. Time of observation, May 22nd, Bhrs. . jufttkr’s satellites, 'Be. eclipse; 0, occnltation; T, transit of satellite; 8, transit of shadow; D, disappearance; E, reappearance; I, ing ess ; E,‘ egress.

[ It'Wtt be noticed that on the evening of the sth, B oos after ten o'clock,’Jupiter's first satellite and its shadow, as well as the shadow of the third satellite he .on ;tho planet's disk together. A beautiful sight* ,li ‘ 7. Saturn is in Aquarius, a little, more than two south preceding* the star Lambda of that constellation. His position will change but little during the month. He will be stationary on the 19th. He.will then corameuoo to retrograde, and continue to do so .till November the 5 th, It will n ot.be possible during the present year, or indeed far many years to'come, to get a-good view of Saturn’s tings, because the planet is in that part of its orbit at which the Earth's elevation above the plohb Of the,planet's rings ia-bnt small. The effort; of this is,m>l course, that the farther edges of tho rings aremot sufficiently ,tilted-up towards us to' allow us to make out details oh their surface. Saturn rises at llhrs Zimin p.m. 8. Uranus and Neptune require no special notice ibis month. ■ ■ . THE SOUTHEEN CONSTELLATIONS. rv. THE TOUCAN. This constellation is not a very striking one, as seen bt the naked eye, its leading-star being of only the third magnitude. Were it not tbat.the Toucan includes; within its boundaries one of theMagellanic Clouds and its outliers, it would hardly require separate notice. The Oloadj called cy astronomers the Nubecula Minor, is at the southern extremity of this constellation, which extends no>thwards about 15deg, towards Achernor on the following and toWfcrda the. “ feet" of the Crane op the preceding Side. .' . ’’ , : , nOTJBbE STARS. Thttbani, Right Ascension,. Ohm s6min Declination 63’ 37' S; magnitudes 5, 5; ppsitjiogj 352°; distance, 28'3"; colors, white, grfflT- • This fine, double .is about 9deg north of th'ejpre-. ceding part of the smaller Magellanic Cloud. - it is the largest star in the neighbourhood. A 6th magnitude distaut companionfollows the pair.- This:is aflhe ohfect for a spy glass/' or for a gopd bp>ra glass. This rtar has been thought, to be binary, we believe wi> hout sufficient reason fl.'-iT.fr-mVida Toiicani, R.A. Ohrs 47min,Dcc. 70° {/•■';; mag. 7, position, 79"; distance, j bolors/ yellowish, reddish. North*of the Magellanic Cloud about 2deg, ueay a Sth-mag. star, which is in the some field. Bad position for oblique transits, but there has been little, if any, movement in the system since Sir J. HerSchersthne.-'’ THE NUHEOTOA MINOR AND ITS OUTLIEuS, . Everyone uitlie Southern Hemisphere must some tjm.a"hAVe Tiotiead- the two cloud-like masses which Oh favorable nights are to be seen circling j'diinff the Saath pole of the Heavens. The smaller WWeso'Nubecula;,- os they - ore called, is about ■beteeu degrees from the pole,'and .has an area of ahottb ten square degrees. It is hot - nearly so bright aa the larger Magellanic Cloud, for while the latter cairbnp&ceived when the moon is quite fillip the former la totally effaced for three ; or, foUr days before and after full moon. A good opera-glass changes the appearance of tho smnller Magellanic Cloufi very much indeed. It makes It appear to consist of two regions, each having a. very distinct character, On the sonth-- preceding side their'appijpElstawp'brigfat nebula,, gradually thinning off . StOr it reaches the~middle : 'of y- iu this but few start aatftf&Sedm,, On the following side the stars are nametbuS, 'ttM - thcy appear to Mi nted up .with pnmhes 6t ilebmfl, The

iaing only two or three small, stars; bat the bar i nness of the region is by rib means so obvious j __ hen the cloud is examined with an opera glass'; in ct many Stars 'are to be seen all round the Nu- .• toula except in that.'portiOn’of, space which lies (tween the Nubecula and ite' very remarkable aster, 47 Toucani (to be described next month), i .ere indeed only one or two small, stars are to be,... |en, and theappears to be perfectly black: .-It .-. lould be added that the cloud seems to besur- ; funded wilh uebulons haze. A good opara glass j lyes bn excellent view of, this object. A powerful i hescope of coarse brings oat details and enables ! a to form, some sort of- opinion as to the tractate of - ' the cloud j bat an opera glass i ikes in the whole thing at once, and really ’ fiords a better tout enumrible than an astro- , bmical telescope with its necessarily limited field f view can_,p,ossibly. give. In fact, a telescopic lew of this Mageilanloclbud is rather disappointag. We find in the cloud,- indeed, stars, and lebulse, and clusters mixed upin a most astonishing iay; but no part of the cloud itse:f can be conidered as affording a particularly beautiful speciaen of celestial scenery. ~ The nubecula contains a 6w good objects, but taken as a Whole it appears to; >a no more than an aggregation of small stars, generally not much compressed; on a foggy, nebu- • pus background, which here and there runs into criots arid patches,' The following objects within ■he limits of the nubecula are worthy of detailed , jxamination:— ■H. K> A. Ohrs. 48min,, Dec. 73° 58 1 ' 9. , Around this spot there are many fields containing star groups, “ star streams,” and patches of riehu- . ious haze. Herschcl called this the “ main body of the nubecula.” His 18-irich reflector resolved the whole of this part of the cloud into stars. N.B. —It Is useless to think of examining this object unless the weather be very fine. 12. H. 2387, 8.A., Ohrs., 53mm., Doc. 73° 7 S. •’ A very small but bright cluster: in a three inch telescope with low power it looks like a large star seen through thick haze. ’ ’ 3. H. 2370, R.A., Ohrs., 53min,, Dec. 72® 49' 9. '' A rich large cluster, easily resolved into stars. 4. H. 2376, R.A.. Ihrs., Omin., i ec. 72° 41 S. A large cluster of very small stars—a delicate hut beautiful object. There are several 10th magnitude stars scattered over it, or it.might easily e capo notice.. The three objects last described are almost in the same field—north following the middle of the cloud. - Note on the “ Coal Sack ” in the Southern Cross. Our statement that the whole of the Coal Sack is richer in stars than most parts of ‘the sky requires to be somewhat modified. While a person who directed his telescope to this part of tiie heavens would probably be astonished to find so many stars in such a dark looking portion of the sky, yet he would, it he examined the whole of the Coal Sack thoroughly, find in it a few decidedly poor fields. - •

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