ERIDANUS.

An asterism winding down to S. horizon, its lucida being out of sight in our latitudes.

Double Stars.

32 (470). 11h 48m, S 3° 20′: 5, 7: 346°·5: 6′′·6: topaz yellow, sea-green or flushed blue. Se colours magnifici, superbi.

02 (40). Ivh 10m, S 7° 50′: 5, 9'5: 107°6: 82": orange, sky-blue. Relatively fixed, with very large c. p. m. [9.5 is double, Kn est. 125°: 2′′, 1871. Binary?]

39 (≥ 516). Ivh 8m, S 10° 35′: 5, 11 [perfectly easy]: 154°: 71: full yellow, deep blue.

62. Ivh 50m, S 5° 23′: 6, 8: 73°6: 64′′: pale white, flushed blue, 2° pẞ (to which Birm. sees a minute comes). P III 98 (2422). 11h 30m, N o° 10' 6'5, 9: 231°8: 59, 1834; 235°9: 6", 1845: yellow, pale blue.

55 (590). Ivh 37m, S 9° 2' 7'5, 75: 318°5: 102: yellowish white.

(p2. 11h 56m, S 8° 12′: 5'5, 10: est. 85°: 3". Burnham. [Red Star, about 35′ sƒ ß; 9'5m. Webb.]

Nebula.

826 ( IV 26). Ivh 8m, S 13° 4′. Plan. bright and round with low powers of 37 in. but not bearing magnifying. Lassell describes it as the most interesting and extraordinary object of the kind he had ever seen; an II m. star standing in the centre of a circular nebula, itself placed centrally upon a larger and fainter circle of hazy light. Yet Huggins finds the spectrum, though deficient at the red end, not gaseous.

GEMINI.

The leading stars, in the heads of the two figures, are well known, but it requires a little attention to the globe or map to make out the whole constellation.

Double Stars.

a (1110, Castor). VI1h 26m, N 32° 10' : 3, 3'5: 258°.8: 47, 1830; D 241°4: 5"7, 1865; De 239°3: 5′′·6, 1871: bright white, pale white. E greenish. H calls it the largest and finest of all the double stars in our hemisphere;' its rapid motion first fully convinced of the existence of binary systems. Period not certain: H gives it 253, Sm, 240, Hind, 632, Jacob, 653 y. Excellent object for small telescopes. Huggins believes it may be receding from us about 25 miles per second; (ẞ approaching us 49 miles.) Nearly 1°s, a little f, is a severe test, Poulkova Cat. 175. 6, 6·7: 345°4: o"5, 1864; discovered independently by Bird with 12 in. silvered mirror, and seen by Buffham with 9 in. do. (With); orange, blue.

ε. Vih 36m, N 25° 15′: 3, 9′5: 94°1: 111": brilliant white, cerulean blue, 1831 [3 strongly yellow, 1849].

μ. vih 15m, N 22° 35′: 3, 11: 89°: 80": crocus yellow, bluish. [Tint of 3 very fine. II very small, 5 in. 1863.]

7. vih 30m, N 16° 31′: 3: brilliant white. [With a low power, minute stars radiate from it every way; a pretty field.]

♪ (≥ 1066). viih 12m, N 22° 13': 3'5, 9: 196°·.8, 1838; Se 200°, 1856: 7"-2: pale white, purple.

4. Triple. vih 56m, N 20° 46′: 4, 8, 13: 355°, 85° : 90′′, 65": pale topaz, violet, grey. [13 a glimpse-star, 31 in.]

[GEMINI]

K. VIIh 37m, N 24° 41': 4, 10: 231°9: 6": orange, pale blue.

38 ( 982). Vih 47m, N 13° 21′; 5°5, 8: 171°8: 6′′, 1863; De 166°3: 6" 1, 1863: light yellow, purple. Binary. Σ finds mags. var.

15. V1h 20m, N 20° 52′: 6, 8: 205°4: 33′′: flushed white, bluish, 1832; pale white, ash-coloured, 1852; Sestini orange, yellowish, 1845; Kn yellow, purple, 1872.

20 (924). vih 25m, N 17° 52': 8, 8.5, 1833; 26, 69, 1830: 209°2: 20": yellow, pale blue; Whitley both white, 1868. Field fine; 11° n p y.

61. VI1h 19m, N 20° 31': 75, 9: 110°: 60": deep yellow, 1835; yellowish. [75 white, and no comes larger than 11 m. 1852, 1855. Kn 9 not found, 1861, 1871.] This pair points to another n p, Σ 1083. 8, 9: 42°4: 6′′ 5: blue, bluish. 2° 8 ƒ d.

[H 264. VI1h 20m, N 22° 25′: [8, 10, 1872:] est. 271°– 272°: 35′′, 1783: [orange, blue: colours very fine. It is about 40' n of 63, a 6 m. star with a minute attendant, which is 2° fè, a little s.]

(R. virh om, N 22° 54'. Var. Secchi very remarkable spectrum at max. (+7 m.) containing bright lines.)

(U. viih 47m, N 22° 21'. Var. 9-below 14. Baxendell and Kn have found maximum hazy.-1858, Nov. it increased 1 m. per day!)

[Red star. vih 3m, N 26° 3′: 8 m. Bird.] n. vih 8m, N 22° 32′ 4m, has one ruddy star, Lalande 11734, sp, Birmingham; and two more, 6 and Lalande 11731, n p, Webb; within about 1°.

[GEMINI]

Clusters and Nebula..

1360 (M 35). Vih rm, N 24° 21'. Beautiful and extensive region of small stars, a neb. to naked eye: how differently Lassell's 24 in. mirror shews it, his own words will tell :-'A marvellously striking object. No one can see it for the first time without an exclamation . . . the field of view, 19′ in diameter and angular subtense 53°, is perfectly full of brilliant stars, unusually equal in magnitude and distribution over the whole area. Nothing but a sight of the object itself can convey an adequate idea of its exquisite beauty.' Sm observes that the stars form curves, often commencing with a larger one [elegant festoon near centre, starting with a reddish star; 9 in. spec.] (see note on Sagittarius, infra). Between & Gem. and Taur. a little n; in a fine region. About 10 s p, just beyond a group of outliers, is 1351 (H VI 17), a faint dim cloud of very minute stars.

1549 (H VI 1). Vih 31m, N 21° 52'. Faint mass of very small stars; H 11-18 m. [beautiful, and in rich region, 9 in. spec.].

1532 (H IV 45). VI1h 22m, N 21° 10'. H observed this object as a 9 m. star,' with a pretty bright nebulosity, equally dispersed all around: a very remarkable phænomenon.' H describes it as an 8 m. star, 'exactly in the centre of an exactly round bright atmosphere 25" in diameter.' Sm who rates it 7.5 m. says he 'could only bring it to bear as a burred star.' I was so much surprised at the result in my inferior telescope, that I cannot help supposing some temporary impediment to distinct vision at Bedford, for on coming accidentally across it in 1850, I found such a conspicuous nebulosity that I thought it was either damp on the eye-lens, or a telescopic

LGEMINI]

comet; and in 1852 I entered it as 'a bluish nebulosity quite like a telescopic comet.' 1865, with 5 in. I perceived a very faint trace of a brighter border s a little f. The E. of Rosse saw a marvellous object: a star surrounded by a small circular neb. in which, close to the star, is a little dark spot; this neb. is encompassed, first by a dark, then by a luminous ring, very bright, and always flickering. Buffham sees the dark ring with 9 in. 'With '; Key's 18 in. mirror shews 2 concentric bright rings, and the dark spot, 1868. It lies 2° s fò.

HERCULES.

Some very fine telescopic objects mark this constellation.

Double Stars.

(2084). XV1h 36m, N 31° 50': 3, 6: 190°: elong. 1835; 136°9: 1′′2, 1842; 83°8: 1"3, 1852: yellowish white, orange. Most remarkable binary. Σ 23°4:0′′9, 1826; single, 1828-31; 203°5: 09, 1834; Fletcher 59°2: 14, 1857; single, 9 in. 1000, 1865; A. Clark double, 7 in., 1865; D 225°1: 1", 1866; Kn 206°5: 1", 1868; 183°3: 1", 1871. Sm's period 35 y; Plummer 36:06 y.

a (2 2140). XVIIh 9m, N 14° 32': 35, 5'5: 118°7: 4" 5: orange, emerald or bluish green. Sm calls it a 'lovely object,

one of the finest in the heavens.'

H makes 3 5 var. 3 to 4 m;

Σ not, but finds 5'5 var. 5 to 7 m; A, not 5.5 but 3·5 var. in 66.4d; Baxendell in 88.5d. Apparently stationary.

p (2161). XVIth 19m, N 37° 16′: 4, 55: 308°9: 3"7: bluish white, 1839, pale emerald; De 4 reddish white, 1853, 1855. Angle changing?

(2 3127). XVIIh 10m, N 25° o': 4, 85: 173°9: 26",