New-York tribune., 1878-03-01
THE HEAVENS IN MARCH.

| URANUs-sIRIUs, THE DOG STAR AND HIS DUsKY
| COMPANION STELLAR GHOSTS - THE vERNAL
| EoUIyoX-PLEAsANT TEMPERATURES FOR THE
| FUTURE NEw-YoRKER.
The breezy month of March opens with an
almost entire absence OF evening stars Jupiter which
was SO conspicuous all through the early WINTER
vanished before the close the in conjunction
with the January 5, and now reappearing as
morning star down the southeast In the constel
ation OF the Archer Venus fingered In the lap OF Feb
ruary. but has sso disappeared She was In conjunc-
tion with the February 21 and will soon be
morning star in Aquarus, attaining Der greatest bril-
iancy about the 2Sth and Goth inst Saturn Yill also
be conjunction with the the 18th, and Mercury
on the 2lst. and both are consequently invisible
Mars is still an evening visant. but the ruddy god is
fast retreatng and what was so glorious an object IN
September Is brighter than secord.class star
The of the change may be seen from few figures
Last Autumn, when the planet shone Ike a glowing
ruby Mars was only "a, 100000 miles distant from the
earth On March he will be 81, 100000 miles away
or nearly five times as far of he six months ago
No wonder then his glory has departed Mars however
can still be seen, and his through tue month Is
quite interesting At the beginning OF March he Is on
the borders OF Aries ths Ram) but soon ravei east
ward into Taurus Cthe EulD lie may be noticed now
short distance below the Pleiades. or Seven sis
ters toward whom he is hasteDng, intent, perhaps on
sowing dscord in that happy family flor his reputation
is none OF the bes, but probably hoping to tnd
there his beloved Aphrode, whose absence has robbed
the heavens OF their greatest Jewell He passes the
Peiades the 18th inst, q tas south OF Ale5one'
and at OF the month viii be almost directly
north of Aldebaran, the bright red star IN the Bulls
head.
One more planet also visible in the evening and che
which few people have ever seeD-ths planet Uranus
discovered by the elder Herschel on March l3 l7el.
Uranus enormous globe more than seventy times
as large the EARTH but makes his journey around the
sun at such an ncorceivable distance that he can only
lust lie with the naked eye--apd that very go0d
one-vhen ho Is In opposition. his distance from the
earth being then sixteen hundred millions OF miles. Now
Uranus was In opposition on February IL, and 20 IA
voraby placed for seeing He may easily e found Win
an oporaglass and should be looked for the constea
tiOn tine LiOnl The stars IN the neck ana iorepar
OF the lion form the well-known group called "The
Sickle" The bright star in the handle OF the sickle Ia
Reguus OF tue nine stars whose places have been
accurately determined for the of sailors on long voy
ages On February Uranus was exactly horth or heS-
uus at an apparent distance OF less than the diameter
OF tho mOOn. During the past month the planet mas
been moving the right OF the star, on Ihe
slightly sloping northwarc; but his pace is so SLOW
that his position is practically unchanged Ho crosses
the meridian March l, at 1l:lS p m and Is visible IN
tho northeast, Just above Regulus as early as p M
Uranus Is attended by four moons-Ar.ol, Cmbrlel'
Itana and Oberon-and Herschel fancied he saw four
others with his great reflector. Even these would give
the planet but half Of his proper numbe- H. as some
have supposed the satellites distributed according to
general law. Thus they argue, If the earth has one
moon Mars two moons, Jupiter four and Saturn eight,
Then Uranus the next In order should have sixteen
Modern Instruments have, however, failed to detect
more than the four mentioned. II others exist. as Is
probable they are too small be seen with the largest
telescope yet made.
But though there Is conspicuous planet TO act as
guardian ol the evening" that post well filed by sirius.
tl,. IA wi shines flashes
only nfero, to Venus aud Jupiter It's ign Ia ntehscV
white with sapphire tnge and occasional CLEAN OF
red; bu It's color has probably changed Seneca called
il rrder than Mars, ana PtOlemy classed II WIN the
ruddy Antarcs On account of t brightness ana Deau-
tl changes Sirius has always attracted attention II
is known TO be a giant some five thousand times
large than our sun shining distance OF more than
huud ed million millions OF mlesa distance 50 great
that gt which comes from tie sun in eight mlnutes
takes twenty and half years 70 reach the earth
from Sirius II has been discovered too, that the star
IA ioIrne,iug south at the rate OF twenty miles
and also going from the solar system az
the rate OF twentysix miles per second Wnere 1t is
going no one tell No doubt such an enormous dis
aucc Sirius would find the Journey rather lonely, were
there not for believing that kindly nature, al
WAYS rich in computations, had given il a companion
when Sirius began 10 be observed closely It's motion was
found 10 be guarnot IN the straight line should
be ft were all alone So the astronomers went to WORK
with their figures ard 10 the conclusion that the
star had companion about wothirds OF its own SIZE.
which rcyolycd around it once In fifty years But star
of this size would be nearly bright as Sirius ITSELF and
no such body had been seen SO they SAID the un-
known star must be dark onein fact, burntOu sun
an oY dead world giving little light, but still keep
.ng company with ia younger and brilliant nelghbor
Well in February, s62 when the Messrs Clark Sons
Of Cambridge, Mass, testing the large
telescope they had just finished Tor the
Dearborn Observatory at Chicago, Avian Clark, Jr
discovered this du,ky companion. shining IKE star OF
The tenth magnitude. Professor Newcomb describes
this fant body as ii very interesting and difficult object
Sometimes hr says, II cannot bo seen WIN the Ereat
Washington telescope, while at others IL IS Isloe III
very small instruments. Tempe well known European
observer has, however, Just thrown doubts on ls very
existence ana huts that the con PauuI II, attca ~
only one of ghosts" false stars which appear IN
telescopes whenever bright ooJect Is e@H~hTu; @ , he h
that he can see Two companions 10 sirius, put ne
aso Venus with the same attendants 80 frequent
w. indeed, do these ghosts appear in the case OF
Venus that full account OF the discussions which nave
arisen s to whether that planet h@s a moon or NOT
kcrrvcd obscrver of Chicago Is the best settle
the dispute about sirius since he has now control OF the
very telescope with which the companion was dscOV
cred On March !. Sirius is exactly south at sol p m
aud sets five hours later.
one interesting event in March is the vefnal or
Spring equinox which TINS year at noon on the
oOth inst The sun, which has been south all Winter,
then crosses the equator his way norh and Spring
commences This intersection OF the equator by the suns
path il called also the FIRST Point OF Aries ana the
starting point from which astronomers measure long
tudes aud rght-asccns0ns. But though the sun Is raV-
cling north it be supposed that he coming
any nearer the contrary his distance from the earth
Is now increasing a rate OF II 900 miles per
day The nearest the sun on December 81
last its distance being 90,s5OO00 miles on March
it will have added to these figures 100000 miles,
and on July . next when the earth is farthest
from the sun, its distance will be 939oOOOO
miles Thus the earth is than three millions of
miles farther away from the in Summer than IN Win
ter But happens that the northern parts are then
turned more toward the sun, and so receive greater
amount heat and lght-lust rs person sitting near
the side OF a large fire would find II much hotter ut
L. Il NM tIur