Visitation of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich

Abstract

THE annual visitation of the Observatory took place on June 7. The Astronomer-Royal presented his report, which deals with the work of the Observatory during the year ended on May 10. The usual fundamental meridian work was carried on with the transit circle, the sun having been observed on 150 days, and the moon on 104 days. The excess of the moon's longitude over its tabular value was 5.2″; the excess has been diminishing since 1924 by nearly 1/2″ per annum; the corresponding excess for the sun, which was 1.7″ in 1926, has now fallen to 1.6″. The observation of stars in the zone 32° to 64° of declination will be completed this year. The next star catalogue will cover the zones 0° to 24°, and 64° to 90°;it is not now considered necessary to observe many stars fainter than magnitude 8 on the meridian; the positions of fainter stars are obtainable by photography with lenses of wide angle.