Abstract
NEW DIVISIONS IN THE RINGS OF SATURN. —Prof. J. M. Schaeberle announces (Astronomical Journal, No. 411) that, during the present opposition of Saturn he has detected a partial division in the B or middle-ring of Saturn not previously seen by him. The new division is said to be 0”˙7 from the inneredge of the B-ring, and the width about the same as that of the Cassini division. The fact that the new division is not conspicuous, like Cassini's, suggests to Prof. Schaeberle that the separation is not yet complete, and that the interval which he has detected contains matter which reflects light to such an. extent that unless the conditions of seeing are very good it is indistinguishable from the general appearance of the B-ring. He has not been able to see the division between the middle-ring and the crape-ring, announced by Herr Brenner. Writing to the Observatory, Herr Brenner says:—“On August 27 I discovered two new divisions in the rings of Saturn; the one between the Manora division and the inner edge of the crape-ring is identical with the Struve division, discovered in 1850, and seen again in 1887 by Struvaert. The other division, between those of Encke and Cassini, is quite new, and was never before seen. Nevertheless it was more conspicuous than the Encke division and more extended too.” In connection with these announcements it may be worth referring to a paper by Captain H. Kater, in the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society (vol. iv. p. 383, 1831). Enough divisions in the outer ring are there described and figured to furnish astronomers with material for contemplation for some time to come.
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Our Astronomical Column. Nature 56, 552–553 (1897). https://doi.org/10.1038/056552a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/056552a0