Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-04-25
The Heavens In March.

In March the starry heavens win
wear g glorious crown. The contem-
plation of this ever-moving panorama
of shining worlds must furnish q new
er-tiring subject of study to the
thoughtful. How constant their shin
ing, how eternal their on-going! Yon-
der, in the South, is the blazing Sirius,
the lucida of all the consultations, the
Dog star Of the Egyptians, the beacon
of our winter nights, while six thousand
five hundred years ago it was the pre-
dominant star of autumn, and six
thousand years hence it will be the rul-
ing star of spring. This star resem-
bles our earth in many respects, the
spectroscope detecting nearly dozen
substances with which we are here IA
miliar, and as nearly all have been
found in cur sun, the resemblance be-
tween the two suns is very striking.
This star is moving from US about
twenty miles per second, and the time
will probably come when it will be one
Of the faintest luminaries, and eventu-
allv. nvrhaps, entirely disappear.
V US is now slowly approschingthe
earth, and apparently receding from
the sun, her greatest elongation east
occurring on the middle Of July next,
when she will present through the tel
eseope half-moon phase, while her
present phase is so largely gibbous as
to appear nearly round.
During the past month Saturn has
appeared at q disadvantage, not only
from his increased distance from the
earth, but, also, from having been i'm
mersed in the zodiacal light, which,
during February and March, always
shines with maximum splendor. Ihls
light stretches from the horizon to the
| Pleiades, and on some occasions 1t has
been family traced to the eastern hori-
zon. Its cause is profound mystery
70 astronomers. 1t appears to be OF
nebulous origin, and extends from the
! sun. which occupies its center, to ads
tance considerably beyond the earth.
Its shape is lenticular, like that OF two
watch CRYSTALS placed together. From
a distance equal to that of the stars, and
situated perpendicularly to its greatest
diameter, it would appear as a nebulous
star like that in Cepheus, Orion, Erida-
nus, etc.
Uranus is excellently placed for tele-
scopic observation, and for the beneit
of those who may wish to find it, l
give its position on the 18th, viz:
| Right ascension, 10h. 14m.; declina-
tiop North, IL deg. AIM, or I'm. n
time west and l deg. slim. north of a
fourth magnitude star called Rho
| Leonis.
On the 2Oth, at about sunset, the
plane of the eaTth's equator passes
through the suns center, or, in other
words, the sun, in his apparent jour
ney northward, crosses the equinox,
In common parlance called crossing
the Fne.' At that moment, north of
| the equator, winter ends and spring
begins, and, south of the equator,
summer ends and autumn begins
March 90 Mercury will be in peri
helion or nearest the sun. His orbit
is the most eccentric of all the planets,
amounting to one-fifth of his mean
distance from the sun, or equal to
7,25O,OOO miles, making the difference
between his periheHon and aphelion
distance more than IA, 100000 miles.
This variation of distance is, alone,
sufficient to produce one set OF sea-
sons, aside from that probably pro
duced by the inclination of his equator
to the plane of his orbit, of which we
know nothing. 1t is owing to his ex-
cessive eccentricity that his elonga-
tions vary so widely from a mean
value. On the 29th he is at his great
est elongation east (nearly 19 deg
when another opportunity will occur
for seeing him with the naked eye.
March and October, owing to the
shortness of twilight, are the best
months for catching a view of this shy
planet. Whenever a maximum elonga-
tum takes place in either of these
months, he is not very difficult object
to find, if few precautions are OBJ
served. I see no reason, therefore, for
believing the unpublished statement
that Copernicus, with all the efforts he
could put forth, was never able to see
him. This story, probably, ought to be
classified with that of the fall of New
toms apple, and that Sirius was an
cientlY red, and of Galileo's famous ut
terance, " 1t does move though"
Orion, the gem of the consultations,
will be a aresplendent object during the
month. Though the luster and con-
fguration of all the stars are slowly
changing, and must eventually OBJ
literate every familiar feature Of the
consultations, yet the change is very
slow. The bands of Orion shine upon
us as brightly and as lovingly as of old,
when Job was asked, 'FCanst thou
bind the sweet influences of the Plei-
ades, or loose the bands of Orion?" or
as they have done in all the by-gOne
ages Of geological time.-Prof Le'0tS
SGOift, in Rochester IN. y Express.