Connecticut western news., 1880-11-17
THE SKY IN NOVEMBER.
The Position of the Principal Planets
 Glorious Views of Saturn.

month. He has passed his opposition or nearest point to the earth, but is still travelling toward his perihelion or near est point to the sun, which he will not reach till 1884. Therefore he will ap- pear brighter than he did this year at the next opposition of 1881, and still brighter at each succeeding one till 1884, when he will be 100, ,000, 900 miles nearer the sun than at his most distant point, and put on his most glorious phase. The rings will continue to open until 1885, when they will reach their widest extent, and the planet will also reach the point of greatest northern declina- tion within the same period. The years 1SS1-95 are the golden season for as tronomers of the present to make a special study of Saturn. When in 1907 the conditions of the present are par tially repeated, the vision that is now clear and far-s seeing will become dim by the passage of time, and if twenty-five years IS the average length for an as- tronomer's vigorous power of observa tion, when Saturn sweeps round again toward perihelion new race of ob- servers will take the place of those who now wonder and admire at the glory of the Saturnian system as revealed to their enchanted eyes. Perhaps by that time continued observations and improved instruments may determine whether there is a triple ring besides the dusky ring, whether the rings are made up of clouds of satellites too small to be seen separately, and too clo e together to allow the intervals between them to be visible, or whether the rings are ap- preaching the planet. We never see this magnificent planet through the telescope without wishing that the pic. tnre of surpassing loveliness could be painted on the nightly sky, and that all who gaze upon the starry depths might behold the entrancing spectacle, @ glo- rious orb, encircled by golden rings, and surrounded by glittering points of light, the coloring so clear and softly toned that the brightest earthly tints seem muddy in comparison, the grandeur of the spectacle transcending the power of the pen to paint. Saturn and Jupiter are both moving south, and Saturn s slower motion will increase the distance beteen them, so that he rises and sets about fifty minutes later throughout the month. He sets now not far from five o'clock in the morning; at the end of the month about three.
 Neptune is evening star after the 4th when he is opposition. Though toe distant to be seen with the naked eye he is in excellent position for telescopic observation, showing @ decided disk and
 a coloring of bluish white. He also is
 travelling toward perihelion, which he
 reaches in 1884. If we had eyes to see
 the outer planets as they roll, we should
 behold three of them, Jupiter, Saturn,
 and Neptune, almost in line with the earth and sun, their masses uniting II
 8 point upon the central orb. The dis turbance in the movements of Uranus
 was the means of the discovery ol
 Neptune, for this most distant member
 of the brotherhood was not really in.
 troduced to our acquaintance till 1946
 and it will take him till 2011 to com
 plete his first circuit round the sun since
 his existence was detected. With ou1
 present conditions of being we shall not
 be in haste to migrate to Neptune. The
 sun at that distance appears little
 larger than Venus at her greates
 dimensions, and gives 1,000th part O
 the light with which the earth Is blessed
 Astronomers are signing for more world
 to conquer. Neptune has perturbation
 indicating an outside brother, ant
 systematic efforts are being made t. gather the fart away wanderer into tn
 system.
 Mercury is evening st ar till the 23d
 when he is in inferior conjunction wit
 the sun, and passing to his western sid joins the morning stars.
 Jupiter is evening star, and thougI {, shining with royal grace as he mount grandly to the zenith, presents no ne'
 phase nor perceptible dinfinution. Tn 5 great spot still lights his disk with it l ruddy line, and, though he ha passed perihelion, believers in tn } agency of the planets in producing sola F commotion will see evidence of @ retrea
 ing pull in the battalions of snowflake , that in mid October overwhelmed til s West and blockaded the trains wit
 snowdrifts ten feet high; in the terrif q sea that ragged on the western lakes; I the unreasonable severity of u f Canadian snow storms in the shocks earthquake on the Spanish peninsula o and in the frightful warfare of Il l elements in Buenos Ayres that cause e the death of more than million (
 cattle in mid-September. Jupiter
 now more than an hour above u 5, horizon at sunset, at sets shortly aft l. four o'clock in the morning; at the el e of the month about two.
 1T Venus is evening star, and will d charming to behold in the southwe 5 throughout November. Venus al d Jupiter are so situated with regard 3. each other that they form the mo d attractive feature of the sky in the cal IS evening.
 Mars is morning star, but there
 little to commend him to notice duri H. the month, as he rises and sets so neal
 at the same time with the sun.
 rises now at little before 6:3O, p 0 ceding the sun only few minutes; ; to the close of the month obout G.: ht nearly an hour before the sun.
 re Uranus is morning star and vi- coming toward us, but is still too in away to be of any account arne sr- planetary notabilities. He rises n ve about two o'clock; at the end of