Abstract
THE MELBOURNE OBSERVATORY.—Mr. Eilery has recently issued his Annual Report referring-to the year ending June 30, 1886. From it we learn that the new transit-circle has been in constant use during the year, and is in excellent order. There appears, however, to be a very gradual lowering of the west pier of the instrument since its erection in August 1884. There also appears a decided diurnal change in the level, the east pivot being higher in the morning and lower in the evening—probably due to the heating effects of the sun on the earth's crust, or on the building. The objects observed with the transit-circle during the year comprised fundamental clock stars, standard circumpolar stars, faint stars selected from the Melbourne zones, comet stars, refraction stars, and a list of stars proposed for insertion in the Connaissance des Temps. The great telescope was almost exclusively devoted to the revision of the southern nebulæ. During the year 214 of Sir J. Herschel's nebulæ were finally revised, 7 were searched for but not found, whilst 30 new nebulae were discovered. There now remain only 95 nebulæ, which were observed by former observers, requiring final revision before publication. The photoheliograph was not in working order for several months during the year, owing to difficulties arising from the change in the size of the sun pictures taken, from 4 to 8 inches diameter. The number of photographs of the sun obtained during the year was therefore only 92.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 36, 43–44 (1887). https://doi.org/10.1038/036043a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/036043a0