Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-09-18

Venus is evening star, and reigns with
queenlY and ackno wleged power over the
morning and evening stars, as well as the
mighty multitude of glistening suns that
stud the celestial track. No student of the
skies will fail to grant her the ascendsncy,
or fall to note her increasing size and bril-
liancy. Her diameter now measures nearly
twenty seconds, and at the end of the month
It will measure twentysiX seconds. 1t must
be remembered that the more her diameter
increases, and the more nearly she ap-
prosches the earth, the less OF her enlight-
ened disc is turned toward us. If, when she
passes between us and the sun, her bright
side were turned toward us instead Of her
dark side, she would be glorious planet,
such as never was seen by mortal eye.
On the 9th she will reach the end OF the
invisible chain that binds her to the sun.
Not second farther can she swerve. The
suns resistless attraction turns her course
and directs her retrograde steps westward,
until, In our view, she has retrOd the whole
eastward course, and reaches her inferior
conjunction and transit. Millions of OBJ
servers are watching her receding steps with
eager interest, for the goal she is bound for
ushers in the great astronomical event Of
the year, II not Of the century. Venus
at her elongation is 46 deg. SO min. east
Of the sun. AS Is deg. represents one hour
of time, it will be plain that she can never
be visible much more than three hours after
sunset; as the same laws prevail In reversed
order when she is the morning star, for the
same reason she can never be seen more
than three hours before sunrise. The in
creased velocity Of the planets motion will
soon be apparent. While she has been
nearly seven months in passing from su-
perior conjunction to eastern elongatioD,
she will be less than three months In return
ing from eastern eloDgation to inferior con-
junction. This most brilliant portion of her
course will form planetary study for the
student of the stars as easily followed as it
is interesting, and illustrative OF the laws
that govern the movements of the inferior
planets.
During this month Venus and Mercury
will reach their eastern elODgations; Mercu-
ry will be IN close conjunction with Spica.
and make near approach to Mars; Jupiter
will be in quadTature; Venus and the cres-
cent moon will shine together in the west
ern sky, and the full harvest moon will be
the crOWning feature Of the nights OF the
early autumn. Everv night the aspect will
vary. Never in the lifetime of the observer
will the same picture be repeated, and with
in the bounds of our own system there Is
abundant work for the exercise of the no
blest powers. But the sun and his family
or world, of such vital importance to the
human race, is only one little cloud speck
in the vast concourse of the 100000 suns
that make up the Milky Way. This, In its
turn, is even more insignificant In compare
son with the myriad suns that people space,
and the masses of nebulous haze so far away
that light is thousands Of years in passing
over the distance. There is no end, no
boundary line visible to our dim conception
of this grand material universe. II we may
be allowed to compare the infinitely great
with the infinitely little, there is no end to
the pleasure and profit to be derived from
the study of the many sided science Of as
tronomy.