St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-11-17
THE PLANETS
What Star Gasers Can See During Thfs
Uonfh-A Fine Programme.
Providence Journal

! Ncpbuuc Is morning star unLll tue 18Th,
when he changes his role 70 that Of evening
star The great event in Neptune's eourse
in November is his opposition with the sun,
which taker place on the 18th ct o'clock In
the afternoon. He Is then at his nearest
! poiut to the earth, and is seen in opposition
Or opposite TO the sun, rising in the east az
the sun sets IN the west, and passing frem
the suns western side, where he has played
the part OF morning star 70 the suns eastern
side. where be will play the part Of evening
star. The earth is then between him and the
I sun, so that a straight line drawn from the
sun through the earth will, II extended,
reach Neptune.
IL the four epochs in the revolution OF the
superior or outer planets be once fixed in the
memory, IL will be comparatively easy 20 fol-
low them in their course. These points are
opposition, qusdrature on the suns caste m
side; conjunction aud quadratare on the
SUMS western side. These aspects are near
ly ali illustrated during the present month.
Neptune IS in opposition. Saturn Is ap-
preaching opposition, Jupiter lie in qusdra-
ture, Uranus is approaching qua1rature and
Mars is approaching conjunction. II Il were
possible on the 18th 10 take birds eve view
OF the solar system which one can easily do
in the minds eye-the observer would be-
hold Neptune in line with the earth and the
sun; Saturn near the same goal; Jupiter
poised half way between conjunction and op-
position, and Uranus the least advanced on
the track, the four giant planets being all as
sembled on the western side OF the sun.
Neptune is now in fine position for teles-
copie observation. he may be found in the
constellation Taurus, about seventeen de-
Of h.. plogaHa. A 81.
with an aperture Of two inches viii bring him
out in favorable weather as a small, round
disk. IL required a much more powerful tel
escope to reveal his satellite, tiny point Of
light close TO the primary.
Jupiter is a morning star. and passes an
important epoch in his course. On the 2Gth
at O'Clock in the m6nlng, be is ia quadra-
ture with the sun on his western side He
is then at the halfway house between con-
junction an opposition, Is ninety degrees
west Of the sun. rises at midnight and sets
at MONDAY. With telescopes OF small pow
er and under ordinary conditions, this SUI
peru planet presents the appearance Of a
large round disk.
Jupiter will be for six months in a most
favorable condition for observation, more so
than will be the case for several succeeding
years, for his path In the heavens now turns
IN a southerly direction, while the general
law was the farther north the planet Is the
more favorable is its position for observa-
ton.
Saturn is morning star. No incident en-
livens his monotonous course during the
month. But be is beautiful 10 behold as be
wends his quiet way over the celestial course,
approaching the goal that has been already
reached by his more distant brother planet
Venus is morning star, but no longer in
the ascendant, for IL is now her turn 10 hide
''her diminished rays" She is getting every
day nearer the sun and increasing her dis
lance from the earth. These two facts NAV
be easily verified by observers as they note
the lessening distance between her and the
sun, and the lessening brilliance Of her disk.
She is almost plunging south ward in her
swift career, reaching southern declination
on the 81, aud recording nearly IL degrees
OF south declination at the end of the month.
Uranus is morning star His path lies
very near that OF Venus at the beginning Of
the month. The two planets are in conjunc-
ton on the 4th at 9 O'Clock in the morning
when Venus is 80 minutes north of Uranus
Mercury is morning star until the 4th, when
he becomes evening star. He is in superior
conjunction with tie sun on the 4th at 3
O'clock in the afternoon. This means that
he is then in line with the earth and Devon d
the sun, and that he passes from the SUMS
western side to his eastern. tic is too near
the sun to be visible, and is therefore of little
account on the planetary annals of the
month.
Mars is evening star. he, like most Of his
brothers, is travelling south. Not long since
every planet In the system was In north de-
clination. At the end of the month Venus.
Mercury, Uranus aud Mars are in south de-
clination. Not long since all the planets
were morning stars. Before November
closes, Mars, Mercury and Neptune are even
ing stars. Movements seemingly without
order are in reality exemplhcations Of the
answering law that regulates the course of
every member of the material universe
The November moon full on the Sd at thir-
ty-six minutes after 8 O'Clock in the morn
ing. The moon is in conjunction with Nep-
tune on the Sd and with Saturn on the 5th
She is at her nearest point 10 Jupiter on the
18th and 10 Uranus on the Is. She makes q
charming appearance on the eastern sky In
conjunction with Venus on the morning Of
the 14th. three days before her change, the
waning crescent hanging two degrees south
of the morning star. On the 18th the new
moon is in conjunction with Mercury, aud
fuldis her round by paying her respect to
Mars on the 18th.
The earth, as she swings her ponderous
bulk in her orbit, encounters about the 18th
the November meteor zone. This gigantic
hoop or eliipse consists of swarm OF parti-
cles following Temples comet in its orbit
This unfortunate visitor from the star depths
on arriving within the solar domain, unwar-
lily ventures too near the planet Uranus
The planet captured the comet, and forced
IL henceforth TO reyolve within the bound
aries Of the solar system, the event occurr-
ing probably in the second century of The
christian era. The perihelion OF the comets
orbit rests on the earth's orbit where she
passes on the 18th OF November, and its ap-
helion extends beyond the orbit of Uranus.
A process Of disintegration is going on, and
the debris of the comet and the swarm Of
meteors are gradually scattering through the
whole zone, only one tenth of which Is now
filed densely with the meteor swarms. The
period of revolution is about thirty-three
years, and grand display occurs only at
these intervals, when the earth crosses the
dense portion Of the zone The last memoir
able display was IN 1S66-77; the next is ex-
peeted in 1899. Observers on the nights Of
the 18th, 12th, 18th and 14th viii be sure to
see few meteors radiating from the cons
tellation Leo, and there Is also q possibility
that an unexpected number of falling stars
may make the heavens resplendent with
their fiery trains.
TeiephOnin0 Extraordinary.
TChambers Journal