Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1892-07-11
THE HEAVENS IN JULY.
VENUS GRADUALLY APPROACHING
THE SUN.

Our Neighbor Mars Travelling Nearer
BeIied Jupiter and His Satellites.
Arcturus. in San Francisco CALL
With the advent of the present
month we lose the services of the
planet Venus as "evening star" She
was at greatest brilI;ancy on June 2,
and since that date has been gradually
approaching the sun and also decreas.
ing in brightness from day to day.
When the new month opers this
beautiful planet follows the sun below
the horizon in less than an hours
time, and on July 9 will be in ''inferior
conjunction" therefore rising and
setting exactly with the chief lumi.
nary. Thenceforth her progr, IS into
the morning sky is quite rapid, and
when July 81 arrives we will find this
fairest OF stars the chief ornament of
dawn, and preceding the rising of the
sun some two hours. e.
The shy planet, Mercury, was found
within less than FIVE degrees of Venus
when July made his entry OH the
calendar. But while the latter planet
is progressing rapidly toward the sun
Mercury is increasing his distance,
and will be evening star until about
the middle OF August. The greatest
elongation east Of the sun il calcu.
lated for July 20, a. which time the
angular distance separating them is
over ~ degrees. On this date
Mercury will follow the sun into the
Pacific Ocean nearly two hours later
in the evening, disappearing below
the horizon at half past 8 O'Clock.
So much for the two interior plane IS,
the orbits OF which lie between US and
the sun. so that we never see them
except shortly before sunrise and
after sunset. Mercury and Venus are
always popular favorises. The latte,
especially, on account of her extreme
brilliancy is doubtless the best known
OF all the stars and planets, but nei,he.
is particularly interesting to the tele.
scopic amateur. For the reason tina,
they are both always seen close to the
horizon and also because each plane,
10, SO far as we know, surrounded bv q
dense atmosphere, which permits but
little study o. the true surface, neither
Mercury nor Venus possess anv great
fascination for the users of small tele-
scopes.
OUR NEIGHBOR MARS.
But the very FIRST mention of the
ne xt planet--in order of distance from
the sun-awskens pleasant anticipa>
tions in the mind of the ASTRONOMERS al
student. Mars is now seen under the
most favorable conditions We could
possibly hope for. Early in August
comes the "opposition" of tLis planet,
which means that it is nearer to US
than at any time for two wears; and at
this particular opposition Mars will be
separated from US by shorter distance
than at any opposition since August,
1877, when Professor Hall discovered
the two little satellites. Since the
planet is over 20 degrees south of the
celestial equator the arc described in
the sky between rising and setting is
quite small. the planet only being q
little over nine hours above the
horizon. Mars will be nearly station.
ary IN the constellation Capricornus
during the month of July, and may
be seen to rise about quarter or half
past 10 o'clock IN the evening when
the month opens-b,i ght star Of re.
markahle redness, and the most con.
spicuous object in that particular por-
ton Of the sky.
There are very few telescopes on
this coast capable OF showing the two
minute satellites OF Mars, even under
the most favorable conditions. OF
course, the 36 inch and l2.inch Lick
refractors are quite equal to the task
with the former glass Professor
Keller said in 1888, during an un>
favorable opposition, that they were
"eas,"); but it is not likely that the
Chabot S-inch or the Davidson 61.
inch would succeed in locating these
tiny bodies. Mars and the moon will
rise on the night of July II, almost
touching each other. On the Eastern
coast most interesting phenomenon
will be witnessed, for the planet will
disappear behind the disk of the moon,
in occultation, as il is called. At
Washington, Mars will be- behind the