Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-11-02
TREATS FOR STAR GAZERs.
A Lunar Eclipse and Other Attractions Du,
ing November.

ing November.
The decrease in the length of the day for the
month Of November, says a writer in the New
York Times. is a little over an hour, being more
in the morning than in the afternoon. The day
Is mott almost six hours shorter than it was at
the summer solstice, fact that becomes far too
apparent rs the chilliness of evening overtakes
Is at an earlier hour from week to week The
month is quite a noticeable one in astronomical
circles, as it contains two eclipses-one of the
moor on the 18th and one Of the sun on the
3Oth- The latter is only partial eclipse, in
visible in this latitude, but visible quite gener-
ally in antarctic regions in which in its greatest
magnitude it embraces somewba. over one-half
the disk Of Old Sol.
The November moon comes in promptly with
the first day OF the month, and this early ap-
pearance admits of there being another new
moon on the last day Of the month. thus giving
us the somewhat unusual number of five phases
for the calendar month There are six con-
functions for November, in which Luna plays a
more or less prominent part The first event
Is with Mercury November 1, but the crescent
as web as the planet, is far too pale for us to
see, both being ingulfed In the powerful RAYS
of the sun Monday, November 2, Venus and
the moon come quite close together, and we
shall see pretty picture in the western sky as
the young moon, seemingly poised on the crest
VI SUNNI hdNe, uIlito uOHu tONdru tne
horizon. all gilded by the sun that has but
barely passed from view. and carries almost in
her arms the fairest gem of the evening heavens
The next conjunction is with Jupiter, on the
10th, but the four degrees separating the two
hardly tend toward enhancing the beauties of
the panorama As the meeting with Neptune
occurs on the day after the full of the moon,
the light is too brilliant for proper effect. even
were the planet within our natural vision. Sat-
urn bears about the same relation to the waning
rts.eI
conjunction is of but little interest Mars
closes the record for the month without adding
the least to its beauties.
The total eclipse of the moon on the 18th Of
the month will be visible here and also in Asia,
Africa. Europe, the Atlantic and the eastern
portion OF the Pacific ocean. The moon re-
mains hve hours and n half in the shadow, the
period OF total eclipeo lasting one nour and q
aaif The entire magnitude of the eclipse is
one-third larger than the face Of the moon
The performance begins a: 9:SO in the evening
and the curtain does not drop until after 8
O'Clock the following morning, when, to re-
verse the usual order of things, the chief per-
former makes his appearance instead OF his
exit
November and August are the two month OF
the year when meteors most frequent II
has beea supposed that the entire solar system
Is traversea by innumerable streams of mete-
ors, probably varying IN dimensions from the
sIze OF peas to that Of base balls though some
falls are recorded OF meteors nearly n ton in
weight. The number of those small bodie,
that cross the earths orbit must be enormous
for il has been calculated that 1000, 600 enter
the oarth's atmosphere every twenty-foul
nours Yet the earth cannot encounter more
than one meteor stream for each of the man,
Iai.lioas whose orbi: must pass above OF below
the rtece o. the terrestrial orbit But despite
these enormous Members h is calculated tha
tnc average number OF me;cors Is less than on'
per million cubic inches of space, 50 that i
tkey were equally distributed The mean dis
lance between each meteor would be over To-
n1Ssu.