American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-01-04
Astronomical Phenomena for 1879.

|
' The following are the principal astronomic
phenomena OF the year 1879. The tim
given are for the meridian of Chicago, whic
: Is >arborn Observatory 40 minutes IA SCI
i onds vest from Washington, and 5 hours ;
. fmihutes 20 seconds from Greenwich,
- SUNDAYS.
f TsB. 8 j - IL -. 81 e. S Sg,y & 1s29s5
A AB1 ! q IS 90 81; s; Is ls. q %
June /, s. 1h,22, 20. Dec. 4 Il, 81 81 IS 81
: The first full moon after the vernal equine
will occrlr Sunday April G. By the rule GOV
erning the movable feasts of the Papal an
dasdns ste s shs snd hex, ts
fore, falls upon April IL. t4. FL.
Sun in perigee, Jan.2, 3p. M - ~
Sumner soistice. June ri, :;,3 D. M.
san III apogee, July 2, 2 p. m. re
4 Winter sols sen Dec ss II, 1856 5 81 2. &
Sun in perigee Dec. 81. 8 p. IN. afsz
- ECLIPsEs.
+ -Inere Will be three eclpseS during 1879
two of the sun, and one OF the moon; bu
they are of little interest to jewellers in thi
region.
Jan. % at six O'Clock I'm the morning. Tn,
sun will be eclipsed. The phenomenon win bt
snnuiar along a narrow belt extending from
| east lonsi ule 81 deg. and south latitude g714
deg to "a deg. east of Washington anl
A z54ydeg north. 1t viii be visible as a partia
| eclipse to a distance OF about IS deg on each
| side of that belt, the area including about two
twirds OF South America and the southern had
| OF Africa.
July 10, at three O'Clock in the morning.
ithere will be another annular eclipse. of the
sup, theycentral line running from longitude
pa east and latitude * morrill, to 17514 east
aud 254 south 1t will be visible as a par
| iiai eclipse from a large part of tho South
Atlantic Ocean, nearly lie whole Of Afrfca
a. d Sout hern Europe and Asia.
Dec y at 10 O'Clock in the. morning, the
beif of hot v,a Il,
| our horizon. 80 'fs -,
t tss ar II psw rs s%Ss ty sgtap that with
iIlane's- IA transit Of one of these may, be ex-
lseeted to occur. Sept. Is, but it may be too
early In the day to be visible from Chicago.
-uefca''5-nill attain his greatest elonga-
IONS fhoni the sun AS follows: -,,...., :.
West, rising before the sun; Jan. 16 GA
lsg) Nay u CTS aeg); 'sept: o MS deg. };
East 5s,t g fs stts ter the Ns SUM- March %
His conjunctions with-the -san-eecur March
!; Ap .6 i7SJans Is Aug 1a oct.5. aud
The most favorable time for seeing him
T-iil be in'ihe early evening of March 90 AT
that date Venus will, be about g deg. fur
sther east than Mercury, and may serve as d.
rdctrix. p -ss1f - .+1ss.-
:. yen4us-Hil1 be an evening star during
more than eight months. Her superior con-
june tion Occurring Dec. 8, 1875, she will be
nearly half an hour east, OF the, sun at the
opening of the year, little to the west OF
Capricornus, and under the head stars of that
constellation JAM IL. On the 23d of the
month she is in conjunction with Jupiter,
passing AZ min. southwark of that planet
near the tail of Capricorn. In the evening OF
March she will be about u deg north
from Saturn, both being nearly Ia line with
the eastern side of the Square of Pegasus.
and ten days afterward be ca deg. north
from Aldebaran. She passes through the
southern part Qeet) OF Gemini during May,
skirts the northern edge of the Beehive clus-
ter June 10, is deg. north from Regulus
during the night OF July 4, and in the after
noon of July passes only Is minutes
north from Uranus. She attains her greatest
eioneation east Us deg. 80 min.) the night
OF July 10. and her greatest brilliancy Aug.
10, and is very near the moon at noon of Aug
%, SIZE is =, in inferior conjunction with The
STAR, rising i,eiore ths( Inc remain
brIlllaucy Oct 81.
Nars-wnl not attract much attention
from naked eye observers In 1879. From his
conjunction with the sun last September COY
to his opposition Nov. IL, next, he is a morn
ing star, rising before the sun; and, at the
last named date, his nearest approach, he will
be some &C, 900 miles from the earth. He |
will, however, be watched by astronomers in |
November with great interest. His two
moons, discovered by Asaph Hall in 1877, will |
probably be visible only through very few |
telescopes, including the one at Chicago; and |
the observations then made will enable as
tronomers to fix precisely the periods OF revo-
luton OF the satellites, and thence to correct |
the present estimate of the planet Mars |
about one part in 8 095, 300, that of the sun |
being taken as the unit. In January, Mars |
will pass through Scorpfo, in February and |
March through Sagittarius and Capricornus, |
in April and May through Aquaries, in July |
thruuyh. Pisces In August through Aries; and |
he will be nearly stationary, not far from the |
In September and October. He will |
then retrogade into Aries till Dec. 16, and then
turn direct. May . he will be less than one |
degree south from Jupiter; and June 30, at |
! h. 36In. p m, only one minute of arc north |
from Saturn. These two planets will he very |
nearly in conjunction during the night pre- |
ceding and that following this date. In the |
morning of Nov 10 he will pass only 12 |
minutes Of arc north of No. So in Aries; and |
in the evening of Nov. % will be only min
ute OF arc south from Rho prime in the same |
constellation. Mars will be near the moon in |
the evenings of Sept 6, Oct. 4, Oct 30, Nov. |
70 and Dec. %; from which date the casual |
observer may learn to recognize him among |
the stars.
Jispitey-Will be in conjunction with the |
sun Feb. z, and in opposition Aug. 81. Hence |
he win not be an object of interest to those |
who only study the evening sky, till the latter
part OF the Year. During the autumn months |
be will be cons picuous in the constellation
Aqusries, about 10 deg. south from the five |
stars known as the Urn, or the x. This |
planet is now nearing his conjunction with |
saturn, which will occur in the last half OF
April, 1851; both being in conjunction with
the sum- seen from the eartif.S E-s-
NOV. 20 Jupiter will pass IL minutes of arc |
south of Sigma in Aquaries; the apparent dis
lance between the two being only about two |
of Jupiter.
SatarD-At the beginning of the year will |
be about hours east from the sun, and below l
The we'll known Square OF Pegasus, near which |
be meets Venus, in the evening OF March 2.
His Injunction with the sun occurs March |
s6, and his opposition Oct. s, when he will be |
in the constellation Pisces The last three |
months of the year he will be visible evenings |
10 the naked eye as a star OF the first magni- |
tude, and will be very interesting object |
through the telescope. His rings were com
pletely closed up last March. They are now |
] an. will be 1 to 25 nearly, and the LIST of |
August about as to IL. We are now looking
1T the southern side of the ring system OF |
saturn, when we see this phenomenon. As
-ronomers will not again see the northern face
u the rings of Saturn till early in the year
1913. when they will have good opportunity
10 observe the change, as the planet will then
be about 80 degrees away from the sun.
UrQnus-Will be in opposition to the sun
Feb. 20. and may be seen about that date, and
Tor couple of months afterward, with the
insided eye, bv those who know where to
ook for him. He shines as star of the sixth
II agnitude only. lie may easily be found az
known star Regulus. of the 18th magnitude,
In the handle OF the sickle of Leo. From that
star, 61S deg. eastward, in line toward Spica,
Is Rho leonis, of the fourth magnitude-easi-
" picked up, because there are no other stars
near it. AT the beginning of March Uranus
at the end of the month a little more than
leg. northwest by west from the same star.
These two distances are respectively equal to
ibout 81 and eight times the apparent