Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-04
AUTUMN's sOLAR WARMTH.

The End of Heat Rays That Are Only
91.OOO,OOO Miles Long-Notes on the
Plans OF the Planets for November
Mars, His Satellites and Little Tides.
- The Sun, brain-smiting lord OF the
| sheepfold.
i ScorchlnR the earth all the day and then resting
at night in thy bosom.''
| So sings Kingsley, in his "Andromeda" of
the brilliant orb of day. Clouds and his great
southern deelination have prevented the sun
from doing much scorching in this neighbor-
hood; but when the sun leaves Northern cIimes
| he goes to more Southern regions, and the
brave party of 25 astronomers who recently left
| for the west coast of Africa will experience
the full realization of this truth. In fact. the
Southern summer is hotter than the Northern.
| for the reason that the sun is nearer the earth
| then than during our summer. About the
middle of this month for example the sun is
but trife over 81, 600 900 miles away a differ
ence of few millions of miles from his dis
tance on the 1st of July. The days length is
now about ten hours, and it will decrease to
about nine hours next month.
Mercury. swift messenger of the gods, is now
making short stay on the western side of the
sun. During the early part of the month he
may lie seen by a Keen-eyed observer in the
early morning, about three-quarters of an hour
before sunrise, in the east. He is best seen in
autumn as a morning star, but is even then
difficult object for the unasssted eye especially
if mis- position in the heavens is not accurately
known, He should be looked for a few degrees
south of the point where the sun rises. He is
in the constellation Leo, about 50 northeast Of
spica. His apparent diameter is 81, and his
distance from the earth on the 9Th about 102..
500, 900 miles.
ia nfpor hrf ~ utiII he eoor in tho
early morning until the end of the year. She is
about onethird as brilliant as she is at her best
and her phase is nearly full, the diameter of the
disk being 1l". She is about 140, 900 miles
from the EARTH
On the morning Of the 10th the distant planet
Uranus may be seen with a good telescope
about 5O south of Venus. Both planets are
travelling east, but Venus travels much the
more rapidly, and soon leaves Uranus behind.
Mars is another morning star, but is still too
far away to be of much interest. He Is the
next to the smallest OF the major planets, and
must be near at hand for the astronomer with
his telescope to see much on his ruddy disk.
His two satellites, too, are so small that they
can be seen only with the largest instruments
and that, too, when Mars is near opposition. A
calculation has recently been made with a
view of determining whether they can have
any influence on the planet in the way of tides.
Appearances have been noted on Mars which
might be explained by supposing that the land
was inundated by large tides, but 1t was found
that the tides raised by these dimfnutive
DOuleS WOulu D6 Dub q SIndll lIdCblOu Oh 4u lnCn
in height, so the appearances must be attributed
to other sources, or else the moons must be
larger than they are supposed to be- Judging
from the light they give, neither is more than
Is or 20 miles in diameter.
Mars is now moving through the constellation
Virgo, on the morning of the 10Th passing only
2 north of the star Eta of that constellation
So close conjunction of planet with a third
magnitude star is something uncommon. 1t
will require good eyesight to see the star and
planet separate.
Jupiter IS still evening star. and before the
25th is the only evening star Of the lot. He is
too far away and too low down in the sky in the
evening to be of much interest His diameter
is 80" and his distance $40. 900 900 miles
Saturn is morning star. rising about mid
night, and can be pretty well seen two or three
hours after he rises. He comes to quadrature,
l. e. that position where he is 900 west of the
sun, on the 18th. He Is in the constellation
Leo few degrees east of Regulus. On the |
morning of the 10th he viii be 80 south Of the
moon.
Uranus is morning star, but too near the sun
to be visible.
Neptune is morning star until the 25th, when |
he passes opposition to the sun and becomes |
evening star. This far-away planet is at pres
ent the most distant of the planets known, and |
requires l65 OF our years to complete a single |
revolution. If this planet has any inhabitants,
and their lives are limited by the three score |
and ten prescribed for dwellers on this earth it |
would not be unreasonable to suppose that it |
would be three score and ten of their years, in |
which case the life of single individual on |
that planet would be greater than the period |
that has elapsed since "Adam delved and Eve |
span." BERT E. V. LUTY.