Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-03

A New Epoch Begun in Astronomical An.
mails This Month.

n Astronomical
mails This Month.
The opening Of October ushers in new epoch
in astronomical annals. When the sun crossed
the equinox on its apparent journey around the
earth the shortening day and the frightening
night reached an equality in duration and ihe
sun was directly over the heads of those from
whom he never does wholly retire his golden
ray, so that nights are longer than days.
Mars still attracts some attention, and, al
though fading from view and diminishing in
size il Is still plainly visible and easily distin-
guished from surrounding stars by its bright,
rudy glow. 1t comes to our meridian at an
hour in the evening when people are quite
likely to be out Of doors, between 7 and 8
o'clock.
The all-attractive object in the evening sky Is,
hoEever, the giant planet, which rises earlier
and earlier each successive evening We see
glimmer near the eastern horizon. which soon
becomes a beam of light, and out of the nightly
blackness bursts forth Jupiter, brilliant dag
cling. fascinating.
On the 18th Jupiter and the sun are in oppo-
sitlon, one rising a. the other sets, which rela-
tive position affords rs the most fay ornble view
Of the planet. In addition to this he is slowly
increasing in size and also in light-givng power.
From the 6th however, his rize begins to lessen
and at the close Of the year he will be reduced
On the 9Th he il in conjunction with the moon,
and as but few minutes Of arc separate the
two 1t Will be interesting to see how much of
his brilliaEoy Is taken from him while in such
close proximity to fair Luna.
After his conjunction Jupiter passes from the
ranks OF the morning stars to those of the even
troll
The early bird will catch a fine glimpse of
fair Venus as she rises In the small hours Of the
morning. Venus has, however. got AZ far away
from the sun as she Is permitted to wander,
and she Is slowly but surely being gathered into
the fold. Jupiter try a. hard as he will and bril-
liant and glorious ss he becomes, cannot wear
tho laurel when falr Venus issues the challenge.
1t will be well into the new year. however, be-
fore Venus gets to her farthest eastern elonga-
ton.
On the 25th Of last month Saturn was in con-
Junction with the sun, and after that event he
changed from an evening TO morning star, IN
which latter category he will remain until after
the new year He and Mercury are In coniunc-
ton. but we cannot without the aid of glasses
witness the meeting. both too the
sun. Saturn |. ha,tening away to the west
ward, while be meets Mercury being drawn TO
the position in which he will be in superior
conjunction with the sun. Saturn and the
almost faded crescent OF the old moon will be
quite close together on the 18TH and IL we have
look at him through y telescope We can see
the morning stars until the 7th. when he passes
the sun TO take his place one OF the evening
galaxy. He Is in the constellation of the Lion
and has right ascension of twelve hours. If
teen minutes thirty-two seconds, and a de-
clinstion about changing from north to south
Uranus and Mercury are in conjunction on
tfs 10th inst. and on the following 6ay the for
nier i, close to the growing crescent of the new
moon.
Neptune is in conjunction with the moon
three days after the fun, and is located in the
constellation of Taurus
The sun travels at lively rate in his course
south during October. His declination on
October l was degrees 90 minutes, while on
the Slst 1t will be IA degrees u minutes. This
is the highest monthly rate he reaches after
crossing the line until ne turns and is
coming north in March. Gu the goth there i.
partial eclipse OF the sun, visible in this section
Of the country. On that day little over nine
tenths of the suns disk will be hidden from
our view. From the time the eclps begins
until II ends there is an interval Of almost four
hours and three-quarters.
OctOber's moon phases begin early on the
morning Of the 9Th with the full moon. fol-
lowed on the 18th with the phase known as last
quarter. The new moon does not come In
until the goth. while the first quartering ap-