Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-07
ASTRONOMICAL AxIoMs.
The Position and Progress Of the Heavenly
Bodies During March : Morning and
Evening Sfnrs-Two New Dfoop..

Bodies During March = Morning and
Evening stnrs-Two New Moons.
WRITTEN FOB THE D1sPATcH1
Old Sol Continues his march northward this
month. making the days grow longer and longer.
He crosses the equator on the Goth. at 40 A.
H. and enters the sign Aries which brings the
beginning of spring. Owing to the procession
of the equinoxes," which cannot be explained
here. the IL signs Of the zodiac and the IL CON-
stellations do not coincide. When these con-
stellations were originally laid out in the
heavens, the sun entered the constellation or
star group forming the Ram, Aries, when he
crossed the equator going north, which marked
the beginning of spring.
Since then, however, procession has carried
the equinox, or point where the sun crosses the
equator, backward by about 3Oo. SO that, while
the sun enters the fictitious constellation
Aries. according to our almanacs, on the COM
mencement of spring, he does not get to the
actual star group forming the Ram until about
April 10. This incongruity, however, causes
little trouble to astronomers.
The suns apparent diameter decreases during
the month from 32 q" to 32' or. showing that
the earth Is still receding from him. His alti.
tude at apparent noon increases from 42o 10y to
54oI7,, and this increase, in connection with
lengthening of the day by about an hour and
half, will tend to bring on spring weather
Mercury is morning star during the month,
reaching his greatest distance west of the sun,
20 So on the 18th at . A. NJ, but owing to his
great Southern declination will not be in very
good position for observation. Mercury is best
seen as an evening star in spring and as
morning star in autumn. since he is then north
of the equator. which causes him to be longer
time above the horizon while the sun is beneath
it. His apparent diameter is Yi.S on the I'd
and 6.0 on the 9th.
R. 4. Declination. Transits. Rises.
Mar. Is 22h 02m. l3o 2V south 1048 AN. 5:35 A. NJ
Mar. Is. oh. Som. 90 AZ south 1858 AN. 5:S5 AN
Venus is still evening star and shines unri-
vailed in the western sky. She slowly ap-
proaches the sun, but grows brighter until the
25th, when she attains her greatest brillianey:
Very little of interest can be seen on Venus
with a good telescope, even in her present
favorable position. The phase, crescent can
be seen with small telescope; indeed, it has
apparent diameter is %" on the I'd, increasing
to 4V' on the 9th.
r. A. Declination. Transits. Sets.
Mar. Is Oh 20m. lso 49, north 3:O6 P. M.1O:ls M.
Mar. 25. Oh Aim. 30 4O north 2:j0P. M.10:l7P.M.
Mars, moving slowly with respect to the
earth, still remains evening star, but is far
away and low down in the west. His disk SUBJ
tends an angle of 4.4 and he is scarcely worth
pointing telescope at.
r. A. Declination. Transits Sets
Mar. Is. III Ism. 70 4V north 900 P. NJ. $3.50 P.
Mar. %. III 42n 100 81 north 149 P. NJ S:2S P. NJ.
Jupiter, the prince of planets is now morn
ing star. rising three or four hours before the
sun, and can be seen in the southeast in the
early morning. He is in the constellation
Sagittarius, and brighter than any of the sur
rounding stars. His apparent diameter is 36".
RIA. Declination. Rises. Transits.
March Is 1Sh. .25m. 23o OF south 242 AN. 7:l3A.d.
March 25. .1sh. 30m- 90 So south 20 AN. 6:3SA.M.
On the 9th, at 100 A. M, Jupiter passes one
of his mile stones, being then in ''quadrature,"
or 90o west of the sun.
Saturn is evening star, having passed opposi-
tion to the sun on the 4th of last month He is
in good position for observation, and is the
most interesting of all the planets at present
The rings are slightly more open than they
were last month, their plane making an angle
of about l6o with the line from the planet to
the earth. At every succeeding opposition this
angle will be less until about 1891 or 1892,
when the edge of the rings will be turned to-
ward us, and they will be invisible except in the
largest telescopes. Though the diameter of
the outer ring is about 167 900 miles, it is sup
posed that the thickness of the rings does not
exceed 100 miles, and this of course Is very
small thing to see at the distance of Saturn.
The apparent diameter of the planet is 1915
In the early part of the month Saturn is in
the constellation Leo, but later on he gets into
Cancer. There should be no difficulty in
identifying Saturn as he crosses the meridian.
He Is then at an elevation of about SO. or
somewhat more than two-thirds of the way
from the horizon to the zenith. He is the
brightest star in the vicinity, and is about 15o
west and 50 north of Regulus, the nearest large
star This method of identifying stars and
planets by looking for them when they cross
the meridian is probably the easiest of all
methods. five know the points of the COM
pass it is only necessary to imagine a semi
circle drawn through the north point. the
zenith, and the south point and we have the
celestial meridian, across which ell the
heavenly bodies must pass about once day.
Now, If we know the time of transit, as this
crossing is called, and know also how far up
from the horizon the body will be, we can have
no trouble in finding it. The elevation of the
body is found by adding the declination of the
body to the co-latitude of the Observers sta
ton, If the declination is north, or subtracting
it from the co-latitude if the declination is
south 90, The be- co;Iatitade Of Pitssburg Is soE4O0
on the 5th Of March. From the table below we
see the planet crosses the meridian at 1924 P.
M. and 400 33' increased by 17o 80, since the
declination is north. is GO 05. We should,
therefore, look for the planet somewhat more
than two-thirds of the way from the southern
horizon to the zenith.
R. A. Declination. Rises. Transits.
March ID. Oh. .Sm. fo 42 north 2:B P. NJ. 1858 p M
March .Sm. 170 5V north 2:O4 PM. s:12 Pm.
Uranus is morning star, and can be seen by
telescope mounted with circles. He is just
barely visible to the unassisted eye, if his posi-
LlOu Is dCCuIdJ6ly kuOWu. Ills dppdIcub ul-
ameter is S.8
R.. A. Deelination. Rises Transits.
March 15 .1dh Ism. 1885 south. 5:3 P. NJ. 2:O6 A NJ
March 25-. 13h. I'm. 7o2S south. 7:50P.M. i:26 AM
Neptune is evening star, but is not in good
position for observation. He can never be
seen with the naked eye, and requires good
telescope mounted with circles to show him.
His apparent diameter is 2'.5.
X. A. DeclinatIon. Transits. Sets.
March Is. .3h 52m. 1So S north 4:39 NJ. I:40 PM
March 25 .3h 53m. SO 3Y north 400 P. 1919 PM
The moon has five phases for US this month,
being new twice.
New moon -. -. March L 5P NJ