Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1878-03-15

utaliOn 10 none Of the besL) but more
probably hoping 10 End there bic be-
loved Aphrodite, whose absence has
robbed the heavens Of their brightest
jewel. Passing the Plelsdes on the
18th ull., q tFifing south Of Alcyene, at
the close Of the month be will be al.
most directly north OF AldebAFan, the
bright red star In the Bull's head. One
more planet is also visible IN the even
ing, and one which few people have
ever seen-the planet Uranus, dlscov-
cred BY the elder Herschel on March
Is. 1871. Uranus is an enormous globe,
more than seventy times as large as the
earth, but makes his journey around
the sun ct such an inconceiVable die
lance that be can only just be seen with
the naked eye-and that 8 very good
one-when be 10 In opposition, bis dis
lance fr m the earth being n billion
six hundred million Of miles. Now
Uranus was in opposition on Febru-
airy 10Th, and 30 is iHvorably placed for
seeing. He may easily be found with
an opera-glass, and should be looked
for In the constellation Leo, ( he Ii
on). Uranus 10 attended by four moons
Ariel, Umbriel, Titanis and Oberon
and Herschel fancied be saw four
others with his great reflector But
though there 10 no conspicuous planet
to act as guardian OF the evening, that
post is well filled by Sirius, The Dog.
star, which shines and fishes with q
vividness only inferior TO Venus aud
Jupiter. Its light is intensely white,
with q sapphire tinge aud an occasional
CLEAN Of red but its color has proba-
bly, changed. On account Of lie bright
ness and beautiful changes, SirIls has
alWays attracted attention. It is known
to be Q giant sun, some Ave thousand
times larger than our sun, shining at Q
distance OF more than q hundred mil.
lion million Of miles-a distance 90
great that light, which comes from the
sun IN eight minutes, takes tweniy-one
aud q half years to reach the earth
from Sirius. II has been discovered,
too, that the star 10 jOurneyiDg south
at The rate OF twenty miles q second,
and 10 also going away from the solar
system ut the rate OF tWenty-six miles
a second. Where II Is going no one
can tell. One other interesting event
in March Is the verual or Spring
equinox, which occurs this year at
noon on the twentieth instant. The
sun, which has been south all Winter,
then crosses the equator on his way
north, aud Spring commences. This
intersection of the equator by the suns
path is caIl,d Sl.o the First Point OF
Aries" a d 10 The starting point IRON
which astronomers measure lOngitudes
aud right asceusions. Bul, though the
sun 10 travelling north, il must not be
supposed that he il coming any nearer.
Gu the contrary, the distance from the
earth Is now increasing at an average
rate Of seventeen thousand miles per
day. The earth was nearest the sun on
December 3lst last, lie distance being
ninety million eight hundred and ffty
thousand miles. % March let It will
have added to these figures seven hun.
dred and sixty Thousand miles, and on
July ID next, when the earth 10 fArthesl
from the snn, lie distance will be ninety,
three million nine hundr cd and fifty
thousand miles. Thus The earth 10 more
than three million miles further awaJ
from the Sun In Summer than In thC
Winter. Bot It happens that the north
ern parts are then turned more toward
the sun, and so receive q greater amour
of heat and light-just As 9 person cit
ting near the side Of q large Ore would
6nd It much hotter at q greater distancl
II he we're right In front Of II.