It has been for some time known that the parallaxes of several of the
brightest stars are, if not absolutely insensible, as Peters found with
regard to a Cvgni, and as Airy has suspected in the case of a hyndj
yet much smaller than that of 61 Cygm, a star of only the 6 th magni-'
tude, which, according to Sir W. Herschel's estimate, would have been
about twelve times more distant ; but it has been reserved to the. pres-
ent day to carry onward this demonstration to a much greater extent
by applying it to stars of a far inferior order. This interesting result
has Deen obtained by means of the excellent heliometer at Bonn, in



820 ANNUAL OF BCIKNTIPIC DI8COVBBT.
the bands of M. Kriiger. A star of the 8.9 mag., Na 21,258 of La-
lande's Catalogue, and another of the 9. mag.. No. 1 7,415-6 in the Cata-
logue of Oeltzen, had been pointed out by Argelander as remarkable
from their larce amount of proper motion, in the latter case amounting
to 1".2 annuallj. Thirty-six comparisons of the former with two other
suitably placed stars yielded an amount of parallax = 0".260, with a
probable error of 0".020. The latter star, from a mean of forty-fiye
similar comparisons, showed a parallax = 0".24 7, with a probable error
of 0".021. This, if confirmed by future measures, would bring these
inconspicuous objects actually nearer to us than Polaris, Arcturus, or
even the magnificent Sinus hunself, and must sugsest very remarkable
speculations as to the probable structure of theUniverse. — London
IrUellectual Observer.
VISIBILITY OP STARS IN THE PLEIADES.
