Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1885-09-10

Henry m. Parkhurst Upon the
AstronomfcaI Noveifv.

Astronomical Novelty.
RooHEsTER, N. Y, Sept. 2.--on the
evening Of August S1st W. r. Brooks of
Phelps, N. Y, discovered a suspected
comet, which tonight was verified by
Professor Lewis Swift, director of the
Warner Observatory Of this city. Its
position is; Right ascension IS hours IA
minutes, declination north SO degrees 40
minutes. 1t has no tail nor nucleus, and
is pretty faint II is moving south.
easterly, and can easily be seen through
a four-inch telescope. II is in the CON
stellation of the Hunting Dogs.
Fridays New York Herald contained
the following letter. Z" In the appearance
of the great nebula in Andromeda there
has been remarkable change, discovered
by Hartwig, aad easily seen with small
telescope. This nebula is Just visible TO
the naked eye, although very faint, and
has been several times mistaken for a
comet. AS seen with a telescope the light
has gradually increased toward the centre,
but there hns been no resemblance TO a
starry nucleus. Now there is central
star of about the eighth magnitude, not
sharply defined, but presenting the ap-
PNoAohNS VI lAlC Vi u tpIllGIs oN
photometric observations on two success
siye evenings ii appears that this star
is rapidly diminishing in brightness,
so that we may infer that the
nebula will before many months resume
its former appearance. There have been
frequent cases of stars suddenly becom-
ing bright and then growing gradually
fainter, but in this case ii is evident that
10 i
there has been one similar cnse-in the
constellation Scorpion which star APP
peared in the midst of nebula and sub
sequently disappeared, although the
nebula remains unchanged.
hardly know whether to add another
circumstance connected with my obser-
vations. On both evenings there seemed
to be considerable fluctuation or flicker
ing in brightness during the observations.
But this may have been caused by the
changes in our own atmosphere, and,
although there was no such change per-
ceptible in the neighhoring stars, ii is
possible that this may be accounted for
by the nebulous appearance of the star.
A contirmatory circumstance is that
careful observer supposed that he saw
similar fluctuations in the light of the tail
of the great comet of 1882.
The published accounts of the faint
comet just discovered by Brooks, near
Arcturus, are too inconsistent to leave
room for any definite Judgment with re-
gard to il. further than that il is not
probably very near us.
HENRY NJ. PARKHuRsT.
New York, September Sd, 1886.
DIR. swIFT's DISCOVERY.
ROCHESTER, N. Y, Sept. 3.-Dr. Lewis
Swift of Warren Observatory, observed on
Wednesday evening a small, condensed
nebulosity about 10 or IL seconds from
the new star in the nebula of Andromeda.
A tail extends from the object and nearly
touches the star. The position angle Of
the object is about 70o.
PHELPS, N. Y, Sept. 3.-Prof. Brooks
of the Red House Observatory, secured
observations of the new star in the great
nebula of Andromeda Inst night and this
morning. A marked increase of light
was discovered between the observations.
The star is now of the sixth magnitude,
and easily visible to tue naked eye. A
small telescope or opera glass shows it
well. Prof. Brooks believes il NAV vet
attain great brilliancy and regards it as
one of the most remarkable phenomena
In the annals of astronomy.