The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-03-02
ruR PLANETS IN MARCH.
movements and Positions or the
Heavenly Bodies.
Providence Journal. ]

anae OF tuefr ftsluE anu seNtnR. lhus
Neptune sets on the last OF the month, at
half-past o O'Clock in he evening, about
three hours after the sun. At the end oil
April, be wilt set about hnlf-past O'Clock,
half hour after the sun, and on the lOth
Of May, he will be in conjunction, or VIII
rise and set with the sun.
Neptune contributes an incident 10 the
March record. On the 9Th, at o o'clock IN
tke evening, he Is In conjunction WIN
Venus. being 90 34 south. When refer
r.ng to the movements OF the planets, we
usually mean their apparent and not their
real movements. In reality, the planets
all rcyolve around the sun from west TO
east But as we view them from the earth,
who Is all the time turning on her axis, the
general movement Of the outer planets,
IKE the sun aud stars, Is westward.
Thus Neptune, bound westward, encoun-
aefs Venus, bound eastward. They
must meet and pass each other, and when
tkey reach the same point OF right ascen-
sion, they are said to he In conjunction.
m at the same time they were in the
same declination, there would be an
eccuitation OF one planet by another.
This Ia very rare occurrence,
though By no means impossible. There
was 40 occultation Of Jupiter by Mars in
1891; ono Of Mars by Venus in 1890; end
one of Venus by Mercury in 1877. Proba-
bly no living observer has ever beheld the
beautiful phenomenon Of one planet hiding
the light OF another, though close APP
proaches are not iufrequent. Neptune,
though the third planet in size in the sys-
TEN. moves at such an immense distance
from the earth that the unaided eye can
never pierce the depths where he dwells.
Even the telescope cannot discover much,
excepting TO pick up tiny moon, and to
find out that, like the moons Of Uranus, 1t
hiss retrograde motion. We should be
willing to have Mars and Neptune change
places, that we might have q nearer view
Of the most distant Of the brotherhood.
The right ascension Of Neptune on the
LIST is 3h. en-; his declination is 15o AZ
nerth, and his diameter is 2".6.
Neptune sets OH the list at half-past III
O'Clock in the evening; on the Dist he sets
at half-past O'Clock.
SATURN is evening star, coming next TO
Neptune in the order of rising. He will
be q beautiful object In the western sky du-
ring the month, making his transit now
about sunset, and holding prominent POI
Etion between his body-guards--th clus-
tering Pleiades on one side and red Aide
barau on the other.
The right ascension OF Saturn on the 1st
Is 4h. Sm.; his declination is 1872 ~ north,
and his diameter 17".2.
Saturn sets on the LIST about balf-past 12
o'clock in the morning; on the 31st he sets
few minutes before II O'Clock in the eve
ming.
JUPITER is evening star. He makes his
transit now about O'Clock in the evening,
so that he is nearly half way to the zenith
when it il dark enough for him to become
visible. Our big brother seems hardly to
have dwindled second since his OPPOSE
ton, though mathematicans say he has
diminished in diameter 2|.6 since that
epoch in his course-a quantity that I'M
practiced observers will find difficult to
estimate. The winter star-lit nights are
superbly beautiful with Venus, Jupiter,
Satslrn, and Mars TO grace the show.
Yhe night ascension Of Jupiter on the
list Is III. ASm.; bis defamation Is 21o AZ
north. and his diameter is 41".0.
Jupiter sets on the LIST at half-past 4
O'Clock in the morning: on the 31st he sets
at half-past 2 O'Clock.
MARS Is evening star. He is stationary
In tho middle OF the month, and Jupiter
presents the same aspect later in the month.
Mars IL still brilliant object among the
stars, but observers will note that his lustre
dims more rapidly than that OF Jupiter and
Saturn. The rudy planet is Of little I'M
portance, excepting for q month before and
a month after bis opposition. AS this
epoch occurs but once In two years and
fifty days, the favorable times for obsery-
ing our nearest otter celestial neighbor
should be carefully improved. The year
1886 must take its turn before he will
again be as bright as he Is at present.
The right ascension OF Mars on the 1st
is Sh. 25m.; his declination is go 81 north,
and his diameter is 1872.
Mars sets on the list about quarter after
8 O'Clock in the morning; on the 3lst he
sets at quarter after 8 O'Clock.
URANUS is morning star until the 10th,
when his name Is registered on the roll OF
evening stars. He is then in the height OF
his glory to observers on this planet, for he
is visible to the naked eye as a star OF the
sixth magnitude, the human eye being
able to scan this distant orb, though he Is
nearly eighteen hundred million miles
away. The reason Uranus is visible is
because on the 10Th, at o'clock in the
morning, he Is In opposition with the sun
and at his nearest point TO the earth. After
this event the five outer planets are eye-
position to conjunction In the following
order: Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars,
and Uranus. There will be no more OPP
positions 10 note until December, when
Neptune again takes the lead.
Observers who are willing TO take pains
will have little difficulty in finding Uranus,
but the night must be mooness, the sky
cloudless, and the atmosphere clear, or his
quest will be In vain. He is now moving
with snail-like pace in Virgo, between Beta
and Eta, two third magnitude stars OF this
constellation. A favorable time to look for
him Is about 8 O'Clock in the evening,
when he is about halfway between the
horizon and the zenith. The bright star
Regulus in the handle OF the Sickle is
northwest OF HIM, and the lone star Spica
IL on the southeast. Those who find the
planet will behold q starry point barely
visible and nothing more. II the tele-
scope, however, Is turned to this starry
point, II will, In the twinkling of an eye,
be- transformed to tiny sphere, of deli
cate greenish hue, very interesting OBJ
ject, the color being entirely different from
ahst Of any other planet In the system.
Uranus has been known member Of the
solar family only since 1881, little more
than century, centennial celebration in
his honor having taken place three years
ago. He was discovered by accident. for
Sir William Herschel, the discoverer,
thought be had picked up stray comet
Instead OF a world The new comet was
duly announced, and mathemaucians went
to work trying to compute its orbit, but all
In vain; their figures would not work.
Finally, the theory was started that the
astronomical prize, carelessly picked up
In the sky, was another planet revolving
outside Of the six planets that had been