The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-02-10
From She Providence, r. T., journal.


aratiOEs fer the A1sFaasAins fPaasit.
From She Providence, r. l., journal.
The Queen Of the Stars with her soft
pensive beauty, her fascinating grace and
her brilliant light, is now Conspicuous
object in tho western sky. This is the
most apleHdid Of oil the planets and
therefore, tbs most easily recognized and
best known. II is often called the Sheps
herds etar, and poets as we'll 80 astrono-
mers have sung its praises. To the early
o. astronomical science it hung
IN the glowing West as the
vesper of the 'ancients, or heralded the
rosy dawn as bright Luicifer, son of the
9a Eeo sit nr,
Who has not watched its softened yet
radiant glow Who has not noticed the
rarity of it's twinkling! Who has not
wondered at the intensity of its light,
manifested in the shadows it casts Who
has net gazed upon its glimmeriag, vapory
brightness when yelled by flight cloud!
Who has not admired the luminous ring
of. illuminated molecules which indicated
its position behind the intercepting me-
diuml Who has not rejniced in the rare
sight Of it's face at midday, when like
ieesy light it dared to show itself in the
presence Of the all-powerful suAt
Venus is now our evening star, and is
passing from her superior to her inferior
conjunction with the sun. Her position
in the solar system between us and the
great luminary, combined with her rapid
motion and our own, makes her to an
observer on the earth appear to oscillate
in straight lines onfeach side of the sun.
! If we watch her carefully we shall find
that every evening she approaches the
sun, and sets earlier. On the 18th OF
December she reaches her greatest dis
tame of elongation. She will now
the great solar center until, on
the 23d of February, coming between us
and the sun, she will reach her inferior
conjunction, and her darkened side will be
turned toward us. She will then reap
pear on the western side Of the sun, to
repeat the same steps as morning star.
An entire oscillation requires 594 days
and therefore Venus is alternately morn
ing and evening star for period eff 1872
days. Her annual revolution takes 225
days, but as the earth moves at the same
time, and in the same direction, it takes
this additional time for the sun, the earth
and Venus to come iuto the same position
with regard to each other. " a n
. THE TELESCOPE VENUS.
For many reasons Venus is the most
interesting planet in the heavens, and we;
the fascinating creature is almost disap-
pointing object for telescope observation
Such is the raIidity Of its motion and the
brilliancy of its light, that astronomers
have experienced the greatest difficulty
in making any discoveries on its surface.
Seen through the telescope the intense
lustre brings out every defect of the
instrument, and especially the chromdtic
alterations The planet is brilliant
ball of primatie light? 1t presents, how.
ever, all the phases Of the moon, and
varies greatly in size as it approaches or
'recedes from the earth, being twenty
five times as large when nearest to US as
when. most remote But, as when near
to us only a small crescent of light is
turned toward us, and when furthest from
US we see the whole enlightened side, its
size does not vary so much as
might be supposed. The time of its ro-
tation has been determined by watching
the irregularities which the illuminating
part of the planet presents at the limit OF
light and shade, and their successive end
periodical temperance. It's various pha-
ses develop very irregular forms. The
horns of the crescent are truncated or
blunted. and sometimes bright points
seen completely separated from tho illum-
mated portion These Inequalities are
eveidence of it's irregular surface, and
some astronomers claim to have detected
mountains reaching to the height of
higher than our tow ering Mount Blanc
Schreter found that the luminous part Of
the SC did not terminate abruptly all ne
the line of shade, and predicted the ex-
istence of twilight from the gradually
light. Other physicists have
inferred the existence of an atmosphere
from the same appearance, which refract-
ing the rays of the sun enables them to
penetrate the surrounding regions.
Several observers in the seventeenth
and eighteent cnenturies fancied that they
had detected satellite, but modern sci
entifc research fails to established the
pleasing theory. The most recent obser-
vations only point out one addition to the
store Of knowledge we have obtained,an
this is not considered as anything but
possibility This is the existence of snow
zones Ike those around the poles OF Mars,
about whose physical conditions So much
more satisfactory information has been
obtained 1saIo3 hi 7ois1.r 81
3 A great interest attaches itself to this
planet She is our nearest eelestialneigh-
bor; her day isyyery nearly the length OF
ours? her year is about seven and a half Of
our months; her diameter isvery nearly the
came; her density, her mass, her force OF