Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-01
HEAVENS In JUNE.
This Is the Month Of the Longest Day
and Shortest Night.
THE FIRST ECLIPSE OF THE YEAR
Jupiter Morning Star and Central Point Of q
Celestial Picture.
A COLUMN OF POPULAR ASTRONOMY

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its highest point north and the summer sol
stice occurs. The meridian height is the
greatest, the sunrise point as well as the
sunset point are the furthest north, and the
longest day is succeeded by the shortest
night. The earth in verdure clad, the per
lection Of foliage, and the abundant flow.
ers bear witness to the creative power
evolved by sunbeams. With it all, how
ever, are mingled feelings of sadness, fol
the twilight, SO enjoyable in our temperate
zone, will cease to lengthen as the great day
| star turns his steps southwark, and it will
not be many weeks before we shall again
| find the days becoming too short for our
amusements.
Another important event in the suns
career for the month is the fact that there
will be partial eclipse on the 9Th, which,
although not visible in New York, can be
seen in that part of North America which
lies north and west of the line drawn
through the northern part of Newfound-
land, Quebec, Toronto, Detroit, st. Louis,
and portion of Texas and Mexico. This is
the first eclipse of the sun for the year, and
there will not be another until December,
which, when it occurs, is no more favorably
situated for our observation than the one
Date Of the Partial Eclipse.
The June moon comes in on the 9th, the
day that the partial eclipse occurs, and
those who are fortunate enough to be in the
portions of the world above referred to will
behold the beautiful phenomenon when the
moon is so situated in regard to the sun and
earth that her dark body does not cover the
sons disk entirely, but leaves a mass of
glowing sunlight which seems all
the brighter from the contrast. The
moons monthly visits to the plan
cts begin on the 4th, when the
waning crescent finds Venus and Mercury
such close neighbors that she calls upon
them both on the same day. This proves
to us that all these bodies are not very far
removed from the sun, the old moon is
about to be burned up, as the ancients used
to think, and the two planets are so close to
the sun that we can hardly discern them
with unaided vision. Besides these natural
meeting takes place so very early in the
morning that few persons will be up to
see it.
On the 7th there is meeting with Mars,
but the tiny red star and the one-day-old
moon will not be far enough away from Old
Sol to afford an interesting picture.
We next find Saturn and the quartering
moon coming as near together as they will
be for the month, but as they are separated
by three degrees of declinatfon little inter
est will be excited. Uranus on the 17th
and Neptune on the 18th are followed by
Jupiter on the 9th, when the conjunctions
for the month are brought to close.
Venus rises about an hour and half be-
fore the sun, and is so. close that in the
brilliant rays of early dawn the queen of
the planets is no longer capable of asserting
herself Her diameter is only about one
quarter of what it was early in the year,
and is daily growing less as she travels
toward superior conjunction, when it is at
its smallest.
Jupiter as Morning Star.
Jupiter is also morning star, and rising
almost four hours ahead of the sun, sur
rounded by thronging clusters of brilliants,
he forms the central point of a most beauti-
full celestial picture. Ever since his rival,
Venus, yielded to him the supremacy of the
heavens his size has been increasing and
with it his brightness. He passes one of the
most interesting epochs in his course on the
7th at noon, when he will be in quadrature
at 900 west Of the sun. The right ascension
of Jupiter on the 1st is % hours 10 minutes,
his declination is 80 32 south, and he is to
be found in the constellation of Aquarius.
Saturn is evening star, and as he is still
the most prominent of the planets in the
evening sky, he remains the greatest attrac-
tion for the ordinary star gazer. He comes
to our meridian about 6 o'clock in the even
ing, and when darkness has made his serene
yellow light, will be found in the south
western section of the heavens in the con-
stellation of the Lion. The star Regulus
will serve as point from which to measure
the journeyings of the planet, as the dis
tance separating the two is perceptibly
widening as Saturn continues on in his
direct motion eastward.
Uranus, as viewed by the naked eye, has
no particular interest to us, and, indeed,
unless we have been keeping watch of him
during the last two months, we can hardly
hope to see him now. 1t is only by COM
pairing his position with that of some of the
brighter stars in his vicinity that any trace
of him can be kept, as neither in size nor
brilliancy does he differ much in glory from
motion is so very slow, owing to his great
distance, that it is only by accurate obser-
walton that we can see that he moves at all.
Neptune at His Greatest Distance.
Neptune is, if anything, rather more lost
to us than Uranus. He has recently changed
from an evening to morning star, and is
about 2, SOC, ,000, 900 miles away, so that an
excellent opera glass must be called into use
to enable us to keep any track Of his wan
derings Neptune's diameter is only two
seconds and half of arc; he rises little
after o'clock in the morning, and is still
in the constellation of the Bull.
Mars, once 50 large and fiery red, has
somewhat drifted away from our interest,
furnishing another proof of the old adage
about being out of sight and out of mind.
We have watched the principal planets one
after another, in obedience to laws that they
cannot resist, draw closer and closer to the
source of all light until they have become en-
quilted in his powerful embrace. For the time
being they have been lost to our view, only to
reappear on the other side of the sun to
again grow bringter and brighter. And so
with the warlike planet. He fought the
good fight, and in the height of his strength,
was gem of the first water. but
now, shorn Of his glorious light,
he no longer attracts us. The promise, how
year keeps us from losing all our interest in
his welfare and makes his temperance as
he again approaches us an event to look for
ward to.
Mercury remains morning star through
out the month, but we can seldom see much
of him, and our greatest interest in his
whereabouts is generally centered in look
ing him up when he is evening star. The
great event in Mercury's career for this
year has already occurred, and in his transit
across the face of the sun he played role
Of considerable Importance, the results of
which are watched for with considerable
eagerness Mercury and the moon are in
conjunction on the 4th, but it will not be