, 1880-02-01

| ing. She will be in her last quarter Wetfnexd..
| at d. 48sn. a. H.; and nearest to the earth 1ns.
| before noon next Friday. The following mnr4,.
! ing she will be about2 degrees south of Yenus
In the southeast, before sunrise. Tonight. ahont
L o'clock, she will pass very close (bclox3 to M
I rs in Virgo; star OF the 9Th nagnitude; tnt
! both star and moon will probably be ohscu1ad b.
t the fog banks above the lake.
| Monday. suns upper limb rises h. I'm. a. N
souths 13m. 50.7s. p N. Sets 5h. 164r. .. M
! Friday, suns upper limb rises Ii. MHm. 4 a
Souths Inn. 1S9s- p m Sets 5h. 2t1xu 0. nj ):
6idereal time Thursday noon, 9Th. In. a6s. :;
Mercury Is near the sun: rising few minutes
before him. The Superior Conjunction M o.
cur on the 14th inst. ~:"
Venus is q morning star. Thursday she nsaa
at4h- 55nn H.; souths at Oh. Sim. a. NJ; nearly
three-fourths Of her disc is Illuminated. ahe r.
now approaching the sun. IS.
Mars is an evening star. Thursday soutGs al
6h. a1m- p m, and sets at 1h. 63u the fol1owtnr
morning. About nine-tenths OF his ILLUMINATED
from the Pletades, and on the 9th inst, viii be i
degrees south Of that group Of stara -.
Jupiter is IN evening star. Thursday, sets Il
h. ASH. p. m. He is a short distance from the 7
Of 4quaries. Three Of the ecIipscs Of bis sstel-
ntes OCCUR during the evening twil}ghta Of the
coming week; he is uow too ncar tho sun to per.
nit the eclipses to be Of interest except to thoI
expert.
Saturn is an evening star, nearly midway bex
tween the apparent places Of Mars and jup1tet.
and southeast from the square Of Pegasus,
Thursday he souths at 3h. {5u1., and sets at q.
55m. p. IN. The breadth Of his ring system b IL
parently about one-si1th OF its greatest di.m.
eter. -,
Uranus souths Thursday at III. dom. q. n. HI
is just visible to the naked eye in clear ky;
but not fayorab1y situated for evening ohsexva.
uon.
Neptune souths Thursday at 5h. 2m. p, u.
Right Ascension 2h. 30m.. and Decllnahou u
deg. IS rnin- north. He Is invisible etspt
through telescope =. =
The middle star In the belt Of Orion souths h
6h. 28m. Thursday evening; and Sirius willsouta
at ah. a8m. ~:s-
The planet Mars IS now approaching The we1~
known group OF stars called the reiades, AZ
Sailors Stars. Tuesday Of pext week BE- Vii bs
only about two degrees south from Muyone, at
the third magnitude, the leading brilliant IN tbs
group. This star, A1cyone, ts memorable as BE-
ing the one selected by Madler, some forty
years ago, as tho probable central Sun, about
which our sun is moving in q mighty circuit
which requires some 100000 years to describe
it. Our readers may he interested in knowing
that this idea Of central sun Is untenable- Tha
SUI Is undoubtedly moving In the present direc.
ton Of the constellation Hercules, IS Tns long
since deemed probable: but it may be owing to
the attractions Of manT stals and not to that of
any one orb. i little calculation Is sufficient To
show TINT star at the distance Of Sirius copH
not pull the solar system through spaee At tho
rate of {say1 five miles per second, without
containing some ninety: thousand times ~
much matter as our sun. In that case the
aualogtes Indicate that the star would be at
least three hundred times as bright an object to
us as Sirius fs now; the latter being to u To1y
much the brightest of al the stars Indeed. va
Ire warranted In claiming that the star must
be much more effulgent than that hnatr 81
Sirius gives out nearly two hundred ames 81
much light AZ our sun, while only containing
! little more than twenty times as much mst1ef.
This is In accordance with the observed fact
hat the smaller worlds are less luminous than
he larger ones, taking distance into the &c:
:ount, In each case; and this Is easily explained
y reference to the we'll known fact that thA
arger the body the mora slowly does It ooot
lnder equal conditions Ia each case. ne havs
AIKEN Sirius as an instance; but the dtE1cn1V
oes not grow much less Il We suppose tho oen:
rSl sun to be farther of, Or nearer to uss tasa4
hat star. -
The motion Of the sun in space Is, therefore,
] all probability, the result OF the att1aousa
orce exertod by great number OF sfarss ana:
this be 80, the direction as weu Is veaoeaE9 u
ae movement are continually changing VIII
1e varying distances Of the sun from the o1oef
ompononts in tho grand system Fono@1nE
ut this train Of reasoning to 3rs lAg1nna4e
oncluston, We shall find 1t difficult to beaese u