The eclipse of the Moon, which takes place on the 29th of this month, will only be partially visible in England, as is sufficiently evident from the following particulars: viz. Digits eclipsed 6° 12′ from the south side of the Earth's shadow, or on the Moon's northern limb. Moon's Passage over the Meridian. The Moon will pass the first meridian of this country at the following times during this month, and will therefore afford good opportunities for observation, if the atmosphere be only free from fog and clouds. Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites. There will be five eclipses of Jupiter's first and three of his second satellite this month; but none of them are visible at Greenwich. Other Phenomena. Mercury will attain his greatest elongation on the 25th of this month; and Saturn will be in conjunction at 45 m. after 5 in the morning of the 24th. The Georgium Sidus will also be in quadrature at past 9 in the morning of the 19th. The Moon will be in conjunction with a in Virgo at 50 m. after 12 on the 3d; with in Scorpio, at 3 m. past 4 in the morning of the 7th; with Saturn, at 57 m. after 2 in the morning of the 15th; with Mercury, at 43 m. past 1 in the afternoon of the 15th; with Venus, at 11m. after 6 in the morning of the 17th; with ẞ in Taurus, at 20 m. past 5 in the afternoon of the 20th; with Pollux, at 5 in the morning of the 23d; with a in Leo, at 59 m. after 6 in the morning of the 26th; and with a in Virgo, at 58 m. after 6 in the afternoon of the 30th. The Moon will also be in perigee on the 13th, and in apogee on the 26th. On the late COMET. This late brilliant stranger appears to have made its appearance within the limits of our optical powers rather unexpectedly; at least, we are unacquainted with any predictions of its arrival in those lower regions of space; and this is confirmed by the dissimilarity in the elements of its orbit, and those of the comets that had been previously computed. But though its visit was not only unexpected but transient, the interest it excited was general and lively. This comet appears to have been first seen at Palermo, by the celebrated astronomer Piazzi, who announced its appearance to the Duchess de Berri. It was soon afterwards seen at Paris; at both of which places, the air is often more clear and suitable for astronomical observations than in England. It is said to have been first seen at both York and Leeds on the 1st of July; and when at its lowest depression below the north pole, it was only a few degrees above the horizon; but it does not appear to have been observed in the neighbourhood of the metropolis till the 3d of that month. On that evening, however, its brilliancy was sufficient to render it visible to the naked eye, soon after the stars began to appear in the evening. Of this, the writer was himself a witness, a very few miles north of London; and thus it continued till the light of the morning caused it to be hid from our observation. Its nucleus appeared to be well defined, and its tail extended several degrees towards the zenith, and, when seen through a good telescope, seemed to have a slightly curling divergency towards the extremity. The length of the tail was estimated by some observers at 15 degrees. The observations made at the Royal Observatory, in the night of the 3d of July, at 12 h. 6 m. 55'3 s. of mean time, were as follow, viz. Mean time of observation Longitude - North latitude h. m. $. 12 6 55.3 6 31 35.6 43° 41' 15" 3s. 9 56 S 20 39 54 The comet having passed its perihelion, at the distance of about 23 millions of miles from the Sun, and 73 millions from the Earth, was then moving with the amazing velocity it had acquired in its descent to its lower apsis; and though, from the small daily increment of its visible latitude and longitude, it appeared nearly stationary in the heavens, yet, from its great geocentric velocity, it was evidently fast receding from the solar system into the boundless regions of space. On the evening of the 7th, however, about 9 o'clock, it appeared about 26° west of the true north, and about 16° above the horizon, having ascended towards the pole star more than half a degree a day, and receded nearly as much from Capella towards the west; so that by referring its place to a celestial globe, it was found about 20 from the three small stars below the left shoulder of the constellation Lynx. The appearance at Paris about the 6th seems to have been very brilliant, as the French astronomers considered its nucleus, at that time, better defined than that of any former comet. On the 9th of July, only six days after it was first seen, the comet had passed over 90 degrees of its orbit from the point of the perihelion, and was then twice the distance of that point from the Sun, and its heliocentric longitude at that time near the beginning of Aries, and its latitude, as seen from the Sun, nearly at its maximum. About this time its telescopic appearance became very irregular; as it sometimes appeared equal to Saturn in magnitude, and at others not larger than a small star. Ön the 10th, its brilliancy was scarcely affected by the light of the Moon, which had only passed her full two or three days before; but its tail presented extraordinary changes, radiating like coruscations, with great rapidity. Ten days after its first appearance, that is, on the 13th of July, the observations at the Royal Observatory furnish the following data: viz. Mean time of observation North declination Longitude North latitude h. m. S. It had made considerable progress in its course by the 15th of the month, approaching Ursa Major, but keeping to the west of it. Its nucleus was still bright, and its path appeared to lead to the evening position of the comet of 1811. From a series of observations, continued at all fa vourable opportunities, and especially taken in many instances when the comet was on the meridian, it was soon found that all the above data were constantly increasing, by small daily increments. On the 26th of July, they had attained to the following magnitudes: viz. h. m. S. 3s. 20 55 39 30 30 4 Some of the French astronomers, in particular, attempted to calculate the elements of its orbit, or at least to make approximations towards that object, from some of the early observations; but the numbers which have been stated as the results of these computations, undertaken by MM. Nicollet and Bouvard, neither agree with each other, nor with the elements of the orbit of the late comet, as deduced from a longer continued series of the most perfect observations. The elements which have been ascribed to M. Nicollet are, Perihelion distance Inclination of the orbit Longitude of the ascending node Place of the perihelion on the orbit Those attributed to M. Bouvard are, Perihelion distance Inclination of the orbit Longitude of the ascending node Longitude of the perihelion 0.51744 277 14 0 47 Can these elements belong to the orbit of the same comet ? The elements of the orbit have also been since calculated from the observations made at the Royal Observatory, at Greenwich, and which differ essentially from both these. The series of these observations that have been printed, were continued from the 3d |