THE LIVERPOOL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY.

The seventh meeting of the Session was held on the 13th April; the Rev. T. E. Espin, B.A., (president) in the chair. The Rev. J. H. Honeyburne, M.A., F.R.A.S., read a paper “On evenings in town with a small telescope." He said it was generally supposed that astronomical observation required an exceptionally good position, besides other conveniences; but he had found a 34-inch telescope, in a little back yard in Liverpool, quite sufficient to render the science a most delightful pursuit. He had noticed that members generally went in for a study and comparison of star magnitudes, or for an elaboration of mysterious hieroglyphics, supposed to represent the bottom of some ring plain on the moon. No doubt this was all very important and interesting to the initiated; but he made no claim to originality, and would merely give an outline of the colours of some stars, and the closeness or faintness of others. The tints of many of the stars were most lovely. ẞ Cygni, and 8 Cephei, he gave as examples; whilst the orange and blue of y Persei fully entitled it to rank amongst the flowers of the sky.

Mr. T. G. Elger, F.R.A.S., hoped the important communication from Dr. Klein, read at the last meeting, would direct the attention of selenographers to the curious dark markings south of Copernicus. Since the publication of Schmidt's work he had carefully scrutinized this region, though with not much result, except that on the 3rd November last he had glimpsed two very minute black spots. These dusky features seemed to suggest an analogy to Mount Rossa, on the southern flank of Etna, which, according to Scrope, completely covered the surrounding country with a deposit of black sand during an eruption in 1669. Possibly something of this kind might now be occurring on the moon, and certainly it would be amongst the smaller craters that we should look for evidence of present volcanic activity.

The President said he had, at Dr. Spitta's request, lately tested his new occulting eye-piece. It might briefly be described as a Ramsden eye-piece, fitted with two pairs of moveable shutters at the focus. Its work on double stars was excellent, especially when the companion happened to be faint and not too close, and he had by its aid discovered a new companion to 27 Hydræ. This was a wide and lovely pair, s. p. a. Hydræ, and was noted by the elder Herschel, though he did not think he had discovered its triplicity. The pair was of 60 and 70 mag., but, on examining them with this eye-piece, a small comet of II mag. (Struve's scale) was at once detected about 8" from the 7'0 mag. star, and at about 190°. Altogether, he thought the

eye-piece supplied a long felt want, but, from the nature of the eye-piece, there was an unfortunate liability to "ghosts," hence there was a danger of finding companions which had no existence. Mr. J. E. Gore, F.R.A.S., contributed a series of observations of the remarkable variable Mira Ceti. According to Argilanders formula, a maximum was due on January 28th; but from his own observations this was not attained until February 4, when he estimated it equal to A Ceti, or about 2.7 mag. The increase of light was at first very rapid, but it became afterwards much slower, and seemed to remain constant from Feb. 4 to Feb. 13.

Mr. R. Wilding, hon, curator of Preston Observatory, announced his discovery of Tempel's comet. Its position was RA. 12h, and about 19° Ñ. dec. The nucleus appeared like a 13th mag. star surrounded by a nebulous disc. The Secretary gave notice that he would bring forward for discussion at the next meeting, a motion to enable members who reside at a distance to vote at the Annual General Meeting by proxy.

Eleven gentlemen were elected members, and Dr. Copeland, of Dun Echt, was elected an associate of the Society.

SELENOGRAPHICAL NOTES, MAY, 1885.

By THOS. GWYN ELGER, F.R.A.S.

The Region between Copernicus and Gambart.-Dr. Klein has recently called attention, in the Journal of the Liverpool Astronomical Society, to the very minute and enigmatical objects in the neighbourhood of Gambart, discovered by Schmidt, and specially alluded to in the quarto volume accompanying his great lunar chart, though they were found far too delicate and evanescent to be accurately recorded in their proper positions in the map. Requiring unusually favourable atmospherical conditions and high powers, and being moreover invisible except under a very high angle of illumination, when the shadows of neighbouring objects have ceased to exist, it is only on very rare occasions that they can be searched for with any hopes of success. In January last, however, Dr. Klein succeeded in obtaining very satisfactory observations of portions of the district which includes them, and he has propounded a very feasible hypothesis to explain the black colour they assume under a nearly vertical sun. No existing lunar map will compare as to detail with that of Schmidt's in the representation of the remarkable country included by lat. 0° and N. lat. 150, and E. long. 10° and E. long. 25°. It is only by carefully studying his delineation of it that we can obtain a just idea of its true character. In Section VI. he shows a complex

hill-system, extending from the north of Gambart in a north-west direction, and passing about twenty miles on the east of Gambart C. Another somewhat shorter but broader range runs from near the foot of the southern glacis of Copernicus in the direction of Gambart, but terminates before reaching it, the two ranges including a V-shaped area of some 5,000 square miles, with its apex directed towards the south. Associated with the first or more westerly of these hill-systems, and lying mostly on the south and east of Gambart C, is an incredible number of craterlets of the smallest type, many not exceeding a few hundred feet in diameter, the district, in the words of Dr. Klein, being “perforated like a sieve." It was here, on the night of January 25th, that he was able to detect some of the most remarkable of the

objects to which Schmidt alludes. One of them was not more than 3" in diameter, and appeared at times of best definition to be perfectly black. In its neighbourhood was a small double crater, with a black border, resembling the dark craters observed by Schmidt in the Mare Nectaris and elsewhere. South of Copernicus, and lying a little west of a line passing from Reinhold A and the double crater Copernicus A, A', is a curious double craterlet, marked m in Schmidt's Sect. VL, but omitted by Mädler and Neison. This object shows a bright white interior, while its slopes are covered with dark material, which gives it the appearance of being surrounded by a grey nimbus. One may imagine that Mt. Rossi, a parasitic double cone on the southern slope of Etna, would present from the moon a very similar appearance after its formation in 1669, when, according to Scrope, the ejecta produced a deep deposit of black sand, which covered a circuit of about two miles radius. Copernicus m, however, is a giant to the minute black points of Dr. Klein, which seem to be allied to crater-pits, and whose dark colour be suggests may probably be caused by the débris of recent eruptions. There are two well known circular black spots of considerable size, visible at and about full moon, amid the intricacies of the south wall of Copernicus, after all other shadows have disappeared, which are difficult to account for except on a similar supposition to that advanced to explain the infinitely smaller black points near Gambart C. The larger and better defined of these features is always so distinct in good observing weather at full moon, that it is strange that no notice of it is taken by Neison and other Selenographers.

It is to be hoped that Dr. Klein's interesting communication may induce those who command powerful telescopes to turn their attention to the minutia to which he draws attention, which are, of course, hopelessly beyond the power of small

apertures. It is amongst objects of this class that evidence of present lunar activity is to be looked for with the greatest probability of success. But the first requirement of the investigation is a carefully prepared chart to a very large scale of the area in question, on which every feature visible with high powers, and under various angles of illumination, may be set down and subsequently described and catalogued. Any investigation less rigorous than this will only end, as in the case of Linné, in a cloud of scepticism and uncertainty.

Encke.-On 25th February, from 8h. to 9h., this ring-plain was well placed for observation, the east longitude of the morning terminator being about 45°. At this stage of illumination the hexagonal form of the bright low border is very obvious, and the small craterlet on the eastern wall a conspicuous feature. The interior of Encke is traversed from north to south by two parallel ridges. The principal ridge commences at the south-east border, and divides the formation into two nearly equal portions. A little north of the centre it suddenly increases in width and height, forming a low central mountain, and then divides into two branches, one branch running to the north-west, and the other to the north-east border, the space included between these arms and the north-west and north-east walls being notably darker than the remainder of the floor. The second ridge, lower and less distinct than the last, lies between it and the eastern border, and joins the eastern branch of the central ridge near the inner foot of the north-eastern wall. On the south-west side of the floor, close to the border, a long light streak was noted, which probably represents a ridge. Schmidt's drawing, though full of detail, does not show the bifurcation of the principal ridge, while Neison, following Mädler, depicts the ridge as terminating on the north at a central mountain. On 27th February, the east longitude of the morning terminator being about 69°, Encke and its surroundings were to a great extent involved in the bright streaks radiating from Kepler, and it was only with difficulty that the outline of the western border could be made out. The crater on the south wall, discovered by Schmidt, (which was not seen on the 25th), was visible as a very bright spot, while that on the eastern wall could not be traced. The only objects discernible in the interior were a brilliant strip near the north-east border, evidently a portion of the secondary ridge just referred to, and an equally bright spot near the south-west wall, which agreed in position with the fainter streak observed on the 25th. On the Mare, between Encke and Kunowsky, are many craterlets not shown by Mädler or Neison, among them a conspicuous double craterlet due west of Encke, and about 30 miles distant from it. Kempston, Beds: 20 April, 1885.

black, chocolate, or steel-grey, during erwise than white, also during transit? e any such observations unpublished, I same time informed, where it is possible, time of the observation, the instrument or reflector, its aperture and power em

EDMUND J. SPITTA.

Common, London, S.W.

RED SPOT ON JUPITER.

t about the character of the mark followto which reference was made in last , it is evidently a small one of the same this evening under favourable circumon the meridian about 7:30, and the new so there is 1h. 30m. between them; and when the old one is disappearing at the the new spot is on the polar edge of the ze about half the length by one third the

r.

NATHANIEL E. GREEN.

John's Wood:

85.

ITH LARGE PROPER MOTIONS.

louble stars are remarkable for the large rincipal stars, in which the companions distance of the small satellite in every