siderably wider. The loop in Cancer made in July and August is very nearly of the same shape as last year's corresponding curve. The inverted S-shaped curve made · in Scorpio in November is wider than that of last year. These different shapes are due to the differing relative positions of Mercury and Earth in their orbits. Their periods being incommensurable, the same combinations of position and motion do not repeat themselves from year to year. The times when Mercury will be visible to the naked eye and may be therefore called "Evening Star" or "Morning Star," may be derived from the following table, remembering that the planet is visible only from one to two weeks at a time when near greatest elongation from the Sun, and that it is evening star when east of the Sun, and morning star when west of the Sun. ASPECTS OF MERCURY. FIG. 2. CHART OF THE APPARENT PATHS OF MARS AND NEPTUNE Dec. 7. Greatest elongation west 20 50 The path of Venus will be found upon the same chart with that of Mercury. It begins in Capricorn and follows approximately the course of the ecliptic until June, when for three months it describes a large loop in Gemini. For the remainder of the year the course is again eastward, near the ecliptic. Venus will be "evening star" during the first half of the year and is already very conspicuous for her brilliancy as seen toward the southwest in the early evening. She will continue to increase in brightness until June 1, a month after reaching greatcst elongation, east from the Sun 45° 35', April 28. During the spring therefore Venus will be a splendid object in the western evening sky, situated very favorably for the study of her surface markings. She will come to inferior conjunction July 8 and a month later attain her greatest brilliancy as "morning star." Venus will be at greatest westernelongation, 46° 2′, Sept. 17 and will continue to be conspicuous in the morning during the remainder of the year. Mars moves in a smooth curve without loops, from Sagittarius a little more than half way round the sky, to Leo, following pretty closely the line of the ecliptic. Mars will be at superior conjunction Feb. 9, and will not be in favorable position until autumn, and then only in the morning hours. Neptune's path is shown upon the same chart with Mars, but upon so small a scale that its shape can scarcely be made out. It moves back and forth practically in a straight line, retrograding from Jan. 1 to March 5, advancing from March 5 to Oct. 1, and retrograding for the remainder of the year. The planet is visible only with telescopes of considerable power. FIG 3. CHART OF THE APPARENT PATHS OF JUPITER, SATURN AND URANUS DURING 1900. Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus are near together in Scorpio and Sagittarius They will be in most favorable position for observation during the summer months. Their apparent paths are almost exactly alike, advancing for three months, retrograding for four months and again advancing for five months. ASTEROIDS New minor planets will doubtless continue to be discovered by the photographic method. The number now known of these little bodies is over 450, so that their discovery is of much less importance than it was fifty years ago. Most of those found now are extremely faint, but occasionally one is discovered which can be observed with a small telescope. Such an one was found by Charlois at Nice. France, on the night of Dec. 4, 1899, in right ascension 4h 37m 56s and declination north 14° 13'. It was of the tenth magnitude and moving westward 56 and northward 4' daily. The most notable discovery in this line during recent years was that of the asteroid Eros (433) by Witt at Heidelberg Aug. 13, 1898 This planet is extraordinary in the fact that its orbit extends within that of Mars and thus approaches nearer to the Earth than any other of the minor or major planets. An ephemeris of this planet for the months of March, April and May has been communicated to us by Professor H. A. Howe, Director of the Chamberlin Observatory of the University of Denver, Col., and is given on another page. 20 COMETS. Three periodic comets are expected to return to perihelion this year. All are faint and can only be seen with a telescope. Finlay's comet, discovered in 1886 seen again at its return in 1893, should be at perihelion about the end of February, but will be so unfavorably situated that its rediscovery is doubtful. The De Vico-Swift comet, discovered in 1844 by DeVico and in 1894 by Ed. ward Swift, son of Dr. Lewis Swift, is due at perihelion in August. It should be in quite favorable position for observation during the summer and autumn. It was however exceedingly faint in 1894, and may be found with difficulty this year. Barnard's comet 1884 II, which has not been seen at the last two returns, if we except an uncertain observation by Swift in 1895, should be at perihelion in October. Its position will be about as favorable as in 1895, and perhaps a little better, so that there is a possibility of its being found. No ephemeris of any of these objects is yet at hand. Brorsen's comet, which has been lost since 1879, should be at perihelion about the close of this year and in fairly good position for observation. The fact, however, that it was not found at the equally favorable opposition of 1890, leads astronomers to think that something has happene to change the course of this comet. Dr. J. R. Hind and Dr. E. Lamp in Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 137, p. 110, point out that possibly Denning's comet 1894 I may have been a fragment of Brorsen's comet, the two objects having been in nearly the same position in space in February and March, 1881. Denning's comet is due at perihelion in June, 1901. METEORS. After the failure of the great Leonid shower to materialize in November last it may be rash to make any more predictions concerning it, but there are several indications that the prediction of last year was a year, possibly two years, early, and that we may look for fine showers in 1900 and 1901. The observations seem to indicate that the maximum of the shower this past year occurred on the morning of Nov. 15, instead of Nov. 16 as predicted by Messrs. Johnstone and Stoney, so that probably the maximum next November will be on the date predicted by Mr. Denning (See POFULAR ASTRONOMY No. 69, Nov. 1899, p. 479). The Andromede or Bielid shower occurred in 1899 on the night of Nov. 24, and will probably not be noticcable in 1900. The following table of the radiant points of the more prominent meteoric showers by Mr. W. F. Denning is abstracted from the Companion to the Ob The Perscids, with a maximum on August 10, are visible for a considerable period and the radiant exhibits an easterly motion among the stars, changing from R. A. 20°, Decl. + 51°, July 19, to R. A. 53°, Decl. + 58°, Aug. 16. Ephemeris of Eros.-The following ephemeris of Eros has been computed with the elements given by Henry Norris Russell in A. J. 457. In Science of Dec. 1 and Dec. 8 abstracts are published of the papers, about a third of them spectrose pic, presented last summer at the first meeting of the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America. The relative photographie brightness of Mars and Jupiter has been measured by Dr. J. Hartmann at Potsdam (Berlin Sitzungsberichte, July 20, 1899; Astrophysical Journal, Nov.) Using a new type of photometer he finds that for the light of greatest photographic activity (A 4760 to λ 4110) the surface brightness of Jupiter is almost exactly identical with the surface brightness of Mars, while the surface brightness of the brightest-southwest-portion of the Moon is about one fourth that of either planet. The distance of Jupiter from the Sun was a little less than 3.5 that of Mars; the intensity of illumination, |