Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-11-01
THE HEAVENS FOR NOVEMBER.


than not to cover the skies and shut out all
view of celestial sights. Still, unless We
are very unlucky in this respect, we are
pretty sure to catch glimpse of several OF
the heavenly phenomena visible here this
month.
The moon is full on the 4th and is totally
eclipsed when at the Iull. This pheno ON
enon, however. occurs at about 10 A. NJ,
Plttsburg time, when the sun Is high in the
heavens, and when the moon, which is then
cut off from its share of the SUMS light by
the earth, Is of course on the other side or
the earth and quite invisible to US here.
And when the moon rises at sunset it has
already passed out of the earth's shadow
and its great round disc will bob up serenely
smiling as if nothing had happened. Now
1t would be natural to think that when the
sun, earth and moon all three fall in a
straight line they would remain so for
more than paltry hour or So But
they don't, and the comparatively short
duration of all eclipses is due to the rapid
proper motion of the moon from west to
east. 1t is hard to realize that the proper
motion of the moon is as great as it is, and
probably not many of our readers apprect
ate the fact that the moons motion from
west TO east is easily noticeable in an even
ing. But a little thought will show that it
must be 80.
Tardiness of the Moon.
THE moon rises about an hour later each
evening; hence 1t must have moved east
considerably during the "a hours. So it has
ABOUT Io-and in one hour it moves east
about LA of l3o or little over half
degree That is just about the apparent
diameter of the moon, and, consequently,
every hour the moon moves eastward across
the SKY distance equal to its own width.
Of course, the earths rotation on its axis
causes all objects IN the celestial vault to
seem to move westward quite rapidly, and
the moons proper motion eastward can only
be noticed by Watching to see If it fuIls be-
hind other heavenly objects in their COM
mon course to the horizon. We have
very good chance to observe
TINS on the evening of Novem-
Der z, when at about 6 o'clock the
moon passes under and very close to Ju-
pfter. Now watch when Jupiter is Just
above the left or eastern side of the NOON
In about an hour you will notice that the
bright planet Is just above the right OF
western side of the moon. Knowing as we
do that Jupiter's motion is very slow in
deed, much TOO slow to be noticed, then this
must prove that the moon is falling behind,
or In other words is really moving eastward
among the stars
When the moon passes between US and O
planet 1t of course hides or occults it, and
according to what we have just seen this
must last for about an hour. Though these
occultations are not phenomena of any
special Importance, yet, when the planet is
bright, it is very beautiful and interesting
sight to see it suddenly disappear behind
the moon, and after long interval re-
appear just as suddenly on the other side
1t is an especially fine sight to see a planet
in isj1, of
the moon, but unfortunately none or the
several occu!tations this mont til are of that
character
An Unusually Frequent Phenomenon.
, THE phenomenon is unusually frequent
this month, every bright planet but Mars be-
ing occulted in turn. The occultatfon of
Jupiter on the I'd is visible as such only in
the tropics and south of the Equator Saturn
is hidden next on The 18th, but at 8 o'clock
In the morning. On the same day Venus
becomes occulted, too but not In our lati-
tude. And on November 81 the new moon
occults Mercury, but, like that of Jupiter,
this Is only visible in southern latitudes,
and here we will be lucky to see it even as q.
near approach, as it occurs about o'clock
in the evening. when the twilight is stiil
strong, and it will take keen eye to pick
out the shy plane. so low down to our:smoky
horizon.
Mars and Jupiter are evening stars this
month, Venus and Saturn morning stars.
Mars glory has now departed, but he NAV
be seen in the south throughout the month
glittering with that ruddy glow that is un-
mistakable, though scarcely half as bright
as it WAS in August. About October1 it
may have been noticed that Mars was In a
direct line with the two bright first magni-
tude stars, Altar and Vega, the latter being
the most nOrtberlu and Affair in he Middle
Now it will be seen that Mars ts noticeably
to the east of the line of the two stars
Vega and Affair are fixed stars and have
preserved and will preserve for thousands
of years their relative positions, so we are
forced to the conclusion that Mars is SLOWLY
moving eastward. 1t is case like that of
the moon and Jupiter, only Mars moves
east in a day scarcely as much as the moon
does in an hour. Still at the end of a month
this eastward motion of the planet is plainly
noticeable.
The Position of Jupiter.
JUPITER is we'll past opposition, but is
as bright as ever, and will be by far the
most conspicuous object in the sky during
November
There are doubtless many readers Of THE
DISPATCH who have never seen Mercury, but
would like to have a glimpse OF the beauti-
and who're to look for it. Being the men,
Der of the solar system nearest to the sun 1t
is almost always hidden in the suns rays,
and is visible to the naked eye on Compare
lively few days of the year. Mercury
makes its greatest apparent distance from
the sun on November %, but is unluekily so
far south that it will require a very clear
evening and good pair of eyes to detect it.
1t may be seen just after sunset on Novem-
ber %, little above the horizon ana about
60 south of where the sun set.
On November l the consultations rise
two hours earlier than they did on October
l. and at 8 P. NJ. this evening, November l.
all the fixed stars are seen to be 800 farther
west than they were a month ago. The
great constellation of Taurus, or the Bull, is
well up in the southeast at this time The
bright, redish star Aide baran marks the eye
of the Bull and cannot be missed, as it is the
only first magnitude star in that quarter of
the heavens, except the brilliant white Capel-
la, which lies farther to the north and east
The Peiades form part of Taurus, and may
easily be seen a little above Aldebaran,
glowing "like a swarm of frefes," as Eng
lands departed laureate beautifully de-
scribed them.
A Task for a Good Eye.
On clear night good eye can count six
or seven separate stars in this group. But
don't find fault with your eyes if you do not
succeed in counting this number, Tor great
deal depends on the condition of the atmos-
phere. Prof Pickering says he can easily |
pick out II or II with the naked eye from his |
station in Peru, where the air is phenom-
enally clear. Such feats as that are, OF /!
course imDOssible here in Our moisture