East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1860-01-26
PEEPS AT THE SKY.


The New York Century for this week
has an instructive article on "The Heav-
ems" from which we condense the follow
ing
"For several months the evening sky,
save when it was lighted up by the moon,
possessed unusually little interest to the
ordinary observer. Only two or three
stars of the first magnitude, and but a
small sprinkling of the second, were visi-
BILE, their planetary neighbor having
been apparently frightened by panic
off the great Celestial Change. At pres
ent it is very different. Confidence has
revived, and no fewer than half dozen
of these bodies, Independent of the sun
and moon, are within view during some
portion of the night; while the finest
consultations that adorn the celestial
vault appear in the eastern sky. No
other section of the heavens presents so
magnificent a spectacle as that which now
comes into view between the hours Of
five and nine o'clock in the evening.
"Shortly after sunset Venus, and god
dess of beauty, is seen in the west, having
recently emerged from the Suns rays !;
while Jupiter, king of the gods, displays
his serene visage on the eastern horizon:
Saturn, on account of his venerable age,
we presume, is more dilatory in rising I;
but, little past eight, has become, next
TO Jupiter, the most conspicuous object
in the orient. Uranus precedes both the
last, but it is too indistinct to be readily
detected by the naked eye, surrounded as
it is with such attractive objects in the
constellation Taurus. The frery coun-
tenance of Mars can only be seen after
three o'clock A. NJ, and that of Mercury
not until three hours later, being the
Suns last visible precursor. In a few
days it will have disappeared from view
altogether. q fssd lo siraas .go
"The 6rst-named of those planets We
nus is now in the constellation Axuari-
us, between twenty-five and thirty de-
grees east of the Sun. It's distance from
the Earth is about one hundred and fifty
millions Of miles. .....h. f,af. t-.ri-
"When at its superior conjunction, or
on the opposite side of the Sun, as it was
on the 9th of September last, its dis
tance from us was thirteen millions of
miles greater; but since then it has been
gradually approaching, and will continue
to move in this direction until next July,
when it win be only twenty-seven mil
lions distant if ~ tau u
"Jupiter is about eight degrees east
of the bright star Pollux, in Gemini, and
apparently travelling towards the west
among the fixed stars. Within three
months it has moved between two and
three degrees in this direction, and it
will so continue ncarlyas much longer.
"Jupiter is now nearly in opposition
to the Sun, and, therefore, one hundred
and ninety millions of miles nearer us
then it will be at its conjunction, six
months hence. ouoT di s. hn1
''Saturn is now in the constellation
Leo, about three degrees to the north
west of the bright star Regulus, towards
which it has been travelling until lately.
It's distance is fully twice as great as that
of Jupiter, but will decrease slightly for
the next two months. .s eg 49,
"Mars may be observed rising shortly
after three o'clock in the morning, to the
south Of east. 1t is at present within the
four transforming the constellation Libra,
nearly two degrees east Of the star Iu-
beneseh. It's eastward course will con-
tinuc some time longer.
"Mercury, as we write, is about TWEEN
ty degrees west Of the Sun but will gain
little on this, and afterwards rapidly
recede and disappear. Owing to its
proximity to the Sun and the, length of
twilight, it is difficult to catch glimgse
Of this planet with the naked eye in Cen
trail and Northern Europe. There is no
difficulty here in seeing it, when. at the
pointof greatest elongation, which occurs
six or seven times year. It's light is
less brilliant than that of Venus; but
very beautiful, and sufficient to distin-
guish the planet from any of the fixed
stars. ''"lt N-'''''
DANIEL WEBSTER on ABoLrrroSIsM.--