Nebraska advertiser., 1860-04-26
Eclipse Of the Plants Venus, Mars
and Jupiter by the Moon.

The occultatlOn OF a planet at any par
ticular place, under favorable circum-
stances for observation, is an event Of
such rare occurrence that it cannot be ex-
pected oftener than once in four or five
years. Indeed, at the Observatory at
Cambridge, only one, that of Jupiter, in
August, 1859, has been seen since the
beginning of 1852.
The happening, therefore, of four Of
these phenomena in a large part of this
country in a single month, between the
24th of the present April and the 25lh
of May next, is very remarkable.
The first of the four, and the most
beautiful and interesting of the whole, is
that of Venus, on the evening Of Tues
day next, 24th inst. This o~ccultation will
take place when the planet is quite high,
and nearly at its greatest brlIllancY. 1t
will be visible in the British Provinces.
and IN that part Of the United States
situated northerlp Of a line drawn from
ALTERNATE Sound, a little south.of Nor
folk and north of Cincinnati, To Daven-
port, Iowa beyond that line the planet
will not be eclipsed. but will pass south
of the Moon. 1t disappearance behind
the dark edge may be seer by the naked
eye, but better through an opera glass.
Through a telescope. Venus will appear
similar to our Moon the day before its last
quarter, as about three-ffths of It's illu-
minated disc will be turned towards the
earth. fa,
About midnight of Thursday, April
26th. Jupiter will be eclipsed in the north
ern part of New Hampshire and Maine,
and some of the British Provinces, but in
the southern part of New England the
least distance of the edges of the planet
and our satellite will be about one-twen-
tielh the diameter of the latter.
The third of these OCCUPATIONS will be
that of Mars, in the morning, before
sunrise, of Thursday, May 10th, 1t will
be visible in a large part of the United
States and the British Provinces As the
Moon will then be about five days past
the full, the EMERSON will take place on
the dark side. The color of Mars will
be a fiery red, as it will be quite near the
Earth indeed, at Mars opposition to the
sun in July 18th next, it will be nearer
to US than for several years, with a high
southern ~declination, thus giving the as
tronomers at the Cape of Good Hope an
excellent and rare opportunity for deter
mining its parallax with greater precision.
The fourth of this extraordinary series
of occultations is that of Jupiter in the
forenoon of Thursday. May 24th, which
also will be visible in a large part of this
country but which, taking place whilst
the sun is above the horizon, cannot be
seen except with the aid of a very good
telescope.
In the remainder Of 1860 and il the
whole of 1862, no bright planet will be
eclipSed in New England. In the even
ing Of May 18th, 1861. Mars will be,
but then the planet will be quite low. and
very remote, so that 1t will shine with but
lille of its wonted brilliancy.=Boston
TraUeLer.
The occultation of the planet Venus,
on Tuesday last, was looked upon by our
citizens with great interest. AS above
stated the planet was not ecIipsed in this
meridian but passed close to, and south
of the Moon.
A like occurrence will take place to-
night about midnight / the planet Jupiter,