The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-03-06
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The hreezysmoBth OF March opens With
al, almost entire absence OF evening stars;s
Jupiter, which was so conspicuous ;atf
through the early winter. vanished before
the close OF the year, was I'm eonlunctiohl
with the sun on January Oh, anu is !. now fe-
appearing as a morning star low down 3, "a
the southeast, in the constel.at.oh 9, ~, ny
I Archer. Venus fingered In the lap OF Feb
ruary. but has also disappeared. She was
in conjunction with the sun on February
21st, and will soon be a morning star Ia
Aquarius, attaining her greatest brililancy
8 about Che 18th and 18th instant. saturn
will also be in conjunction with the sun on
the 18th, and Mercury on the 2lsf, ana
1 both are consequently invisible.
Mars is still an evening visitant, but the
ruddy god is fast retreating, and what was
/ SO GLORIOUS an object in September is, now
no brighter than second-class star. ine
cause Of the change may be seen from q lew
figures. Last autumn, when the planet
shone Ike a glowing ruby, Mars was only
81, 800, 600 miles distant from the EARTH On
March LIST he will be 15I 900, 900 miles away,
4
months ago. No wonder, then, his glory
has departed. Mars, however, can still be
seen. and his course through the month is
quite interesting. .Atthe beginning OF March
he Is on the borders OF Aries 1.-THE RAINY,
!. Int soon travels eastward into Taurus
fthe BuiI. He may be noticed now short
distance below the Pleiades. or Seven Sis
tiers, toward whom he Is fastening, intent,
. perhaps, on sowing discord in that happy
family flor his reputation is none OF the
best), but more probably hoping to hnd
there his beloved Aphrodite, whose abb
sence has robbed the heavens OF their great
est Jewel. He passes the Pleiades on the
18th instant, trifle south OF Alcyone, and
at the close Of the month will be almost di-
rectly north OF Aldebaran, the bright red
star in the BULBS head.
One more planet is also visible in the
evening, and one which few people have
ever seen-the planet Uranus, discovered
by the elder Herscbel on March 18th, 1871.
Uranus is an enormous globe, more than
seventy times as large as the earth, but
makes his journey around the sun at such
an inconceIyable distance that he can only
lust be seen with the naked eye-and that
very good one-when he is in opposition,
his distance from the earth being then SIX
teen hundred millions Of miles. Now, IRA
nus was in opposition on February l6, and
SO is favorably placed for seeing. He may
easily be found with an opera.glass, and
should be looked for in the constellation
Leo 1.-THE Lion). The stars in the neck and
forepart of the lion form the well-known
group called The Sickle" The bright star
in the-handle Of the sickle is Regulus, one
OF the nine stars whose places have been
accurately determined for the use OF sailors
on long voyages. On February 2 Uranus
was exactly north OF Regulus, at an appa-
rent distance OF less than the diameter OF
the moon. During the past month the
planet has been moving to the west or right
OF the star, on line slightly sloping north
ward; but his pace is so slow that his posi-
ton is practically unchanged. He crosses
the meridian March at 11:18 p. NJ, and is
visible in the northeast, just above Regu-
lus. as early as z r. NJ. Uranus is attended
by four moons-Ariel, Umbriel, Titania,
and Oberon-and Herschel fancied he saw
four others with his great reflector.
But though there is no conspicuous planet
to act as guardian of the evening, that post
is we'll filled by Sirius, the dog-star, which
shines and flashes with a vividness only in
ferior to Venus and Jupiter. Its light is
intensely white, with sapphire tinge and
an occasional CLEAN OF red; but its color
has probably changed. Seneca called it
redder than Mars, and Ptolemy classed it
with rudy AntareS. On account OF Its
brightness and beautiful changes Sirius has
always attracted attention. 1t is known to
be a giant sun, some five thousand times
larger than our sun, shining at distance OF
more tnan hundred million millions Of
miles-a distance so great that light, which
comes from the sun in eight minutes, takes
twenty-one and a half years to reach the
~, hos
too, that the star is iourneying south at the
rate of twenty miles q second, and is also
going away from the solar system at the rate
Of twenty-siX miles per second. Where it
is going no one can tell.
On March 1st, Sirius is exactly south ut
Sol P. NJ, and sets five hours later.
One other interesting event in March is
the vernal or spring equinox, which occurs
this year at noon on the Goth instant. The
sun. which has been south all winter, then
crosses the equator on his way north, and
spring commences. This intersection OF
the equator by the SUMS path is called also
the 81 First Point Of Aries" and is the
starting point from which astronomers mea-
sure longitudes}and right-ascenslons. But
though the sun is travelling north, it must
not be supposed that he is coming any
nearer. On the contrary, his distance from
Tue S1aI LII Is BUW 1AuSkOaotd= GU al fSAoSS
rate Of II, 900 miles per day. The earth was
nearest the sun on December 31st last, its dis
lance being 90,85O, 900 miles. On March 1st
it will have added to these figures 100000
miles, and on July I'd next, when the earth
is farthest from the sun, its distance will be
go, $4,000 miles. Thus the earth is more
than 3,000,0 900 OF miles farther away from
the sun in summer than in winter. But it
happens that the northern parts are then
turned more toward the sun, and so receive
greater amount OF, heat and light-just as
q person sitting near the side OF large fire
would find it much hotter at greater
distance il he were right in front OF it.
Northern winters have not always occurred
when the earth was nearest the sun, nor the
corresponding summers when it was mostre-
mote. In the year 1889, B. c., or: about the
supposed epoch Of the creation OF the world,
the sun was nearest the earth at the vernal
equinox. In 1850 A. D. it was nearest at
the winter solstice. In $3.50 A. ID. it will
be nearest at the autumnal equinox, and in
the year 1928 A. ID. the earth will be near
est the sun in summer and farthest from it
in winter. at that distant epoch-ten |
thousand years hence-the average tempe |
nature Of New York winter will be zero, |
or $50 below freezing point, with the cold |
often SO extreme as to soIidify mercury
and OF summer 1000, with the thermometer
often running up to 1909 in the shade.
What manner Of man must the future New
Yorker be to bear these extremes with |