white, and came from Serpens; 10 was a bright meteor. It started from Serpens, went under Corvus and disappeared below it. It was low in the south and had a curved track, left no trail, was of a pure white color and of 0 magnitude. It rivalled Venus in whiteness and brightness. The radiant is between and n

A letter has been received at the Harvard College Observatory from Professor H. A. Howe at Denver stating that Eros was observed with the 20-inch refractor of the Chamberlin Observatory with the following results:

After taking parallax and aberration into account, a comparison of these observations with the ephemeris of J. B. Westhaver in A. J. No. 479 gave the following corrections to that ephemeris:

So far as known this is the first visual observation of Eros since its conjunction with the Sun.

HARVARD COLLege ObservatORY, Cambridge, Mass.,

June 1, 1900.

The Lyrid Shower.-The nights of the 17th, 18th, 19th were cloudy, but the 20th was clear. The Moon was one day before last quarter. The radiant point was not very well defined but most of the meteors came from Vega, or between the region of a, ɛ,5 Lyrae. Five of the meteors were outside of this triangle, numbers 13, 21, 3, 19 and 11. They were classed as Lyrids, because they were all very swift, excepting No. 3. At 12:30 my observations began, but one meteor was seen of third magnitude, medium speed, moving from Vega at 12:20. No. 2 was a short, swift and remarkably bright meteor, leaving a trail; 3 was an unusual meteor, it started slow and seemed to have several colors, it left a trail of red, white and blue colors. Another peculiarity of it was a very curved

path; 4, 5 and 6 were minor meteors; 7 was blue, of the fourth magnitude, and quite swift, showing the characteristic of the Lyrid shower; 8, a repetition of No. 7; 9 was a most surprising meteor. It was so short, so bright and so swift, the eye couldn't quite make out whether it curved or not. It could not have lasted one-fifth of a second; 10 and 11 were faint; 12 was rather slow and very faint, of the sixth magnitude; 13 was a most beautiful sight. It started a little northeast of Lyra, and shot across the sky, disappearing in Virgo, passing Arcturus and Corona. It was of a red color, slow, left a persistent trail, lasting two seconds. After this the following meteors were so swift the eye just caught them. The shower was, I think, at its maximum on the 19th but, although the meteors on the 20th were few, yet t'ey were swift, bright, interesting. They diminished in number as 4:00 o'clock approached, so I think the maximum must have been before the 20th. The shower might be called good, on account of the many interesting points about individual meteors.

1.5, 0.5, 2 5 mean, a little less than first magnitude, zero magnitude and second magnitude. Average one every nine minutes. Average magnitude 2 5 or a little less than second magnitude. ROBERT M. DOLE,

91 Glen Road, Jam. Plain, Mass. April 21, 1900.

The Total Eclipse of the Sun at New Orleans.-The total eclipse was observed here in a remarkably clear area of a partly cloudy sky. The duration being scarcely more than a minute, the darkness was only that of early twilight. About ten seconds before totality the inner corona became visible.

The outer corona had two extensions one on the east tapering and not

sharply outlined on the edges, the other somewhat longer, being about a degree at its outer edge from the Moon's limb. It was more conspicuous, was sharply outlined, and widened as it extended. Its upper edge pointed almost directly towards the planet Mercury. It left an impression of a more streaky structure than the eastern wing.

W

CORONA OF TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE, MAY 28, 1900.

Seen at New Orleans, La., Drawn by Miss Rose O'Halloran.

The south polar rays were conspicuous pointed and curving.
The inner corona was shallow.

The tint of the entire appendage was that of feathering clouds after sunset.
May 28, 1900.
ROSE O'HALLORAN.

Opposition of Eros in 1900.-The opposition of Eros during next autumn will afford opportunities for observations of especial interest. The near approach of the planet to the Earth will permit the solar parallax to be determined, while the great variations in phase and distance will give unusual value to photometric observations obtained at this time. The ephemeris of Dr. Millosevich, published in the Berlin Jahrbuch for 1902, provides the means for discussing the measures of position of Eros. The annexed table, which is based on this ephemeris, furnishes a part of the material required for the investigations mentioned above. The date is given in the first column. The right ascension and declination for 1855, for Berlin midnight, are given in the second and third columns. This epoch is selected for convenience in identifying Eros by comparison with the stars in the Durchmusterung. The daily motion in right ascension, expressed in seconds of time, and in minutes of arc when reduced to the equator, are given in the fourth and fifth columns. The daily motion in declination, and the total motion expressed in minutes of arc, are given in the sixth and seventh columns. These quantities are important in planning observations for parallax, especially those made photographically. The logarithm of the distance from the Sun has been kindly furnished by Dr. Millosevich and is given in the eighth column. The logarithm of the distance from the Earth is given in the ninth column. From this it appears that its distance when nearest the Earth is less than a third of that of the Sun from the Earth. This minimum occurs on December

26, nearly two months after opposition, which takes place on October 30. The phase angle between the Sun and Earth, as seen from Eros, is given in the tenth column. There are few asteroids for which this angle much exceeds 30°. In the table, beginning with the value 37.5 it gradually diminishes to 28°.3 at about the time of opposition, and then gradually increases, until on January 31, it attains the extraordinary value of 56°.1, becoming even greater later. The photometric magnitude, neglecting the phase and assuming that the light is inversely proportional to the squares of the distances of the Earth and the Sun, is given in the eleventh column. It is based on the measures described in H. C. O. Circular No. 34, from which it appears that the magnitude would be 11.39 at a distance of unity from the Sun and Earth, and that the photographic magnitude is 0.6 fainter than the photometric. It will be noticed that these last values are nearly 0.8 fainter than those given by Dr. Millosevich, who based his magnitudes on visual observations. As the magnitude 9.5 in the Durehmusterung is about 10.5 on the photometric scale, this difference is readily explained. The difference becomes still greater if we apply a correction for phase. This correction, in the case of the asteroids, is about 0.03p, in which p is the phase angle. If we assume that this law can be applied to Eros for angles as great as 56° we obtain the corrected magnitudes given in the twelfth column. The phase angle in the observations described in Circular No. 34 is 21°.2. The magnitude at distance unity, therefore, becomes 11.39 0.64 = 10.75. The approximate mean time of meridian transit is given in the thirteenth column, and the aberration time in the fourteenth.

As an example of the use of this table let us consider the most favorable conditions for determining the solar parallax. It soon appears that this problem is by no means a simple one. If we select the end of December, when Eros is nearest the Earth, we find that meridian transit occurs so early in the evening that Eros cannot be photographed far east of the meridian. Moreover, the motion both in right ascension and declination is so great that if the telescope is made to follow the stars, Eros will trail so rapidly over the plate that it may not leave any impression on it. If the total diurnal motion is 24', the motion will be 1" a minute. If, then, the diameter of the image is 2", Eros cannot be photographed, unless an