Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 14.djvu/739

Rh The two stars appeared red to him, shining at three degrees southwest of the sun, and presenting large disks of the fifth magnitude. He adds that he saw no other star, not even Delta, and that the distance between them was from 7' to 8' of arc. ("Nature," September 19, 1878.)

The two stars seen by Swift, then, are not the same two seen by Watson. The matter is a good deal confused.

Further, in observing the star Zeta Cancri, two stars could have been seen, instead of one, for Zeta is a double star. It is, indeed, a triple star, but a high power is required to see it triple, whereas a moderate power easily shows it double. But, inasmuch as only very low powers were employed, it is probable that no new cause of perplexity exists here.

To sum up: While it is possible that the American observers saw an intra-Mercurial planet, or even two, we can not, in view of the special difficulties of the situation, the confusion of the figures, and the negative observations of the other observers, concede it to be an absolute and incontestable fact that they saw even so much as one. The fact is not yet certain.

We would remark that no variable star is known to exist at that part of the heaven. Might it not be a comet? It did not present the characteristics of a comet.

Whatever the upshot may be, this discussion goes to show that in astronomy nothing is accepted without being first verified, and that this science is becoming more and more worthy of its reputation of being the exactest and the most absolute form of human knowledge.

This strange vicinage of the sun is unfortunate indeed in the annals of astronomy. Time and again have observers supposed that they saw planets passing before the sun; and, out of all the observations which have been made, there is not one which definitively settles the question.

The penultimate astronomical observation announced as appertaining to an intra-Mercurial planet was that of the German astronomer Weber, which was presented to Leverrier by Wolf, of Zurich, as having been made April 4, 1876, at Peckeloh. "A small, well-rounded disk of 12" of arc appeared suddenly during a partial clearness of the sky (éclaircie), which was turned to account for observing the sun. It was impossible to pursue the observation, owing to clouds." Wolf calculated that this observation accorded with two prior observations made in 1859 and in 1820, and fixed the period of the planet at forty-two days. Leverrier, too, seemed disposed to accept this observation, which gave occasion for a new memoir by the illustrious French astronomer, in which he brought together and compared all the observations of this kind. The stir which this made in the scientific periodicals is still remembered. But yet the little black disk observed by Weber was not a planet at all, but merely a sun-spot, round and without penumbra. It had been observed five hours earlier at the Observatory of Madrid and at the Observatory