Abstract
μ CASSIOPEÆ AND VICINITY.—Smyth (Cycle ii. p. 25) has the following remark with respect to stars near μ Cassiopeæ:-“Just 18′ south of μ is a star which, though of the 6th magnitude, is not in Piazzi. It is followed nearly on the parallel, about 11s off, by a 9th magnitude, and both are remarkable from being red, of a decided but not deep tint.” There is no star of the 6th magnitude near this position at the present time, nor so far as we know is there any record of such an object having been visible since the epoch of Smyth's observations, 1832.71, It may, however, prove to be a variable star of long period, like the 8th magnitude orange-coloured star remarked by the same observer near Procyon in the autumn of 1833, the existence of which is supported by the observation of Mr. Isaac Fletcher, as described in Smyth's Sidereal Chromatics and elsewhere, and we believe by the experience of the Rev. T. W. Webb. There is now a star of the 9th magnitude, following μ Cassiopeæ, 17s.2 and 15′ 38″ south; this is clearly Argelander's star + 53°, No. 228 of the “Durchmusterung,” there estimated 9.5, a considerably fainter object than an average 9th magnitude in Bessel's scale; its place would appear to correspond better with that of Smyth's star following his 6th magnitude, nearly on the parallel, than with that of the missing one. Probably this small star may be variable also; its place for the beginning of the present year is R.A. oh, 59m. 58.3s.; N.P.D., 35° 41′ 27″.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 12, 534–535 (1875). https://doi.org/10.1038/012534c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/012534c0