The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-04-13
THE HEAVENS IN APRIL.
Great Importance Of the Full Moon
Of the 18th, and Its
Position.
It Determines the Date OF Easter
Sunday and Other Movable
Feasta.

MTEF2
Feasts.
C~opjunctions and Opposition Of the Month
Morning and Evening s~tars-Eolipss
Of the SUN.
April, the fourth month in tho year, pre-
senta many attractions for those who fol-
low with unwayerinR interest the ever
changing movements of the heavenly
bodies. The greatest gift, however, that
ths month beatows upon us ia the full moon
Of the 18th, for ii holds the most important
place on tho lunar records of the year. II
10 the first full moon after the yernal equi-
nox, and it detorminea, according to ~scclesi-
nstioal usage, that Easter shall fall on the
following Sunday. Az this festival is the
most ancient II important Of all the
movable feasts Of the Christian church, it
determines all the other movable feasts and
fasts. says the New York Times. Ths full
moon on the 18th 10, therefore, tho pivot on
which Easter turns, and is indirectly the
regulator of the movable feasts and fasts
of 1892. Thus one satellite, il it be = dead
world. has no insignificant mission TO per-
form in terrestrial affairs. Events innum-
cradle are regulated by the fall of the great
festival, and . difference Of thirty-threo
days, the extreme points Of its occurrence,
may exert = mighty influence IN human
affairs.
On the 9th, three days before the full,
the moon and Saturn are in conjunction,
~. 49, = 1oarsa nr,1 $hsan-Cror
tiers to the southwark. The day after the
full OF the moon there ID conjunction with
Uranus, the latter being less than . degree
10 tho southward. On the 10th our satellite
draws % near Mars a. if will get for the
month. Jupitsr's turn comes on tho 9th,
just two days before tho new moon, which
shows the planet to be quite close to the
sun and on the side opposite that o. which
curry OCCURS on the 2bth and with Neptune
on the 2Sth, the growing crescent being but
two days old.
The closest as we'll as the last meeting Of
the month is on the Goth with Venus, in
which We are promised 2 very pretty picture,
az only three minutes of arc separate the
two bodies, 4 distance so slight that il will
hardly be perceptible to our unaided vision.
The two will be drawing closer and closer
throughout the evening. and it will be
almost midnight before they are at their
closest. II will probably be somewhat hard
for us to realize that the planet is three and
a half times the size Of the moon, but its
greater distance from us, of course, &C
counts for the moon Being apparently the
larger.
the 26th, which, unfortunately for US, will
not Be visible il This portion Of the world,
and, in fact, there could hardly be a place
selected in any other portion OF the world
that would contain az little land, as few
civilized people and as much water as the
area over which this eclipse will be visible.
+ extends quite generally over the South
Pacific ocean, including the extreme west
coast Of South America on the ono hand
and New Zealand on the other.
NJ Although by this time we must all Of us
be ready to acknowledge the fascinating
grace with which Venus Yields the starry
scepter, our admiration for her must still
increase as she shines with peerless luster
in the twilight sky almost before the sun
has fairly sum- to rest. She is increasing
in size and will be the glory of the myriad
hosts for weeks to come. She reaches one
goal in her path early in the morning Of
the 9Oth, when she will be at the point of
greatest eastern %olongation from the sun
the space between the two will then As de-
QreeS 81 minutes. From that time
she will be retraoing her steps toward the
center OF the solar system, with which
she will be in inferior conjunction on
July 8.
On the 18th Venus and Neptune are in
conjunction, but the meeting is not a very
CLOSE one, nor has it to us any very Import
ant Significance. superstitious people of
years gone by attached a great deal of i'm
portance to planetary conjunotions, espe,
cially when they were close. They declared
THAT they conceded with notable historical
events, and cited many instances to SUPP
port their belief. Of course, this is all To-
sense, for when planets are in conjunction
they are following their Interchangeable laws,
just as the sun, the earth, and the moon do
when there is a solar or lunar eclipse. To-
ward midnight on the 29th, if the night be
cloudless. we shall have a picture of rare
loneliness. as the two most radiant mem
bers of the evening Sky will be in conjunc-
tion, when the three days old moon will be
in crescent form, holding tho fairest of the
planets in it's embrace.
Mercury il evening star. until the 18th. at
which date it is in inferior conjunction and
joins the galaxy of morning stars. He is
quite exceptional in many ways. is the
swiftest of the planets, and hustles along
three to tbirty-ive miles a second. Msr-
curry keeps SO close to the sun that be is in
visible to the naked eye, except at his
periods of greatest %elongation, when he
be seen as a beautiful star of the first
with a slight twinkle and a
ClSHT Willie CO1OE. UuSb Hb b1Ah bllu6 lu6T0 |
is a favorable opportunity for seeking his
disk just after sunset about ten
degrees north of the point Of the setting
sun.
Jupiter remains hidden from view in the
powerful rays of the sun. He has passed
within the month from an evening to a
morning star, but for the present we shall
have to take this on faith and be satisfied
to know that the giant planet is increasing
in size and moving northward, so that
we do meet him he will be larger
than when we lost sight of him, and that
as monarch of the morning twilight skies
he will be az brilliant and attractive as
ever. On the oath he is conjunction with
the waning moon and is to be found in the
constellation of the Fishes.
Saturn comes next to Venus rs an object
of planetary interest, as he is in sight almost
all night throughout the month, and is at
in quite q favorable situation for
low down in the eastern sky
nm hour or 10 after sunset. He ia all the
more conspicuous from the fact that these
are no very brilliant stars in his immediate
He is moving to tho westward,
but at SO slow a pace that he seems TO be
ever in about tho same place. He is in the
constellation of Virgo and is getting grad
uallv farther away from the earth.
Mars is a morning star, rising about 1870
"A nioo1r iva tho MORNING md crn1nn1Iv rod