Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-05
THE STARS In MARCH.
Astronomical Spring Time Will Soon
Be in the Ascendency.
SIZES OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES.
Intensely Heated Vspors on the Visible Sur
face of the Sun.
THE MOVEMENTS OF ALL THE PLANETS

The sun enters the sign Aries on March
| 10 at 10 p. NJ, says the New York Times
The vernal equinox then takes place, the
| astronomical spring begins, and the days
and nights are equal all over the globe.
This last assertion must, however, be
taken with qualifications. Such would be
the case if it were not for refraction, which
lengthens the day from four to eight min
utes, at the. expense of the night When
the suns disk is really below the horizon,
to us it has the appearance of having risen,
sunrise being thus accelerated from two to
four minutes The reverse takes place at
sunset, the sun being visible for a few min
utes after his disk is below the horizon.
Refraction, therefore, adds few minutes
of precious sunlight to the short winter
DAYS
The visible surface of the sun is entirely
formed of intensely heated vapors, and one
might almost say that the sun spots, about
which so much has been said and written,
are holes by which we can look through the
brilliant surface to the interior and darker
parts. Sometimes the spots close up and
fresh ones open elsewhere There have been
times when the whole surface of the sun
has been mottled over in this way. and most
wonderfully shaped structures have been
noticed. The enormous group of sun spots
now visible measures many thousands of
square miles, and the disturbed are has been
unprecedented in extent, though perhaps
not in activity, for number Of years.
Phases of the March Moon.
the quartering of the new moon that came
in yesterday, on the 9th; there is full moon
on the 18th, last quarter on the 21st, and
new moon on the 28th. This evening the
moon and Jupiter are in conjunction, and
on Tuesday Venus and the moon. To-
morrow evening Luna will be midway be-
tween the two planets, and, although the
fine tableau presented four weeks ago will
not be equaled, still they will be well worth
looking at
On the 4th Neptune and the moon will be |
at their closest for the month, but neither |
this meeting, nor that on the 1st day of |
more than three degrees of declination sep |
arating the two.
On the 18th Saturn and the moon come |
within degree and half of each other,
followed by Uranus on the 18th, which lat |
ter is the nearest that the moon approaches |
any of the planets. Mars turn comes on |
the 21st, the day of the quartering of the |
waning moon; Jupiter again on the 9th, J
Mercury on the 10Th, and Venus closes the
monthly list by being honored with Sec
ond visit
its distance is compared with that of other ]
objects in space, yet when we express its I
distance in ordinary units it is a very long
way of-about 24O, 900 miles; length nearly
as great as that of all the railways in the
world put together. If you were to wrap q
thread ten times around the equator of the
earth, it would be long enough to stretch
from the earth to the moon.
How Cities Would Look Up There.
Suppose that there was mighty city like
his metropolis on the moon, with huge
and teeming thousands of people,
fine parks and great rivers. Of all these
,hings, our unaided eve would show us
hardly anything. Suppose that we made
,iny model of our surroundings, so that the
streets, the bridge, the buildings, the ele-
vated roads and SO forth were in their true
proportions If this miniature city were so
mall that it could stand on postage stamp
md it were put on the other side Of the
able or on the other side of the room or the
,ther side of the street, the most prominent
structure would have ceased to be distin-
.uishable; but yet the distance is not nearly
.reat enough. We should have to put our
title model fully half mile away before
t would be in the right position to illustrate
he appearance of lunar metropolis to the
lnaided vision.
Venus is evening star. The queen of the
tars is, during the month, peerless among
he planetary family. She is growing
arger and increasing in brilliancy, being
Till be in July. She is also getting further
nd further away from the sun, toward the
oint of greatest easterly elongation, which
ill be reached toward the close of April
IS her backward journey toward the sun
ill occupy her fully two months, we shall |
ave her presence as evening star until ,
ummer has well begun. The rapid move {
lent that she is making to the northward
ill lengthen her stay above the horizon {
nd give us fine opportunity to observe
er.
Who could imagine when he saw Jupiter !
nd Venus so close together as they were
uring their conjunction that the giant {
lanet was so very much larger than his
FARMING mate? If we take Venus to be a t
Ill of about one inch in diameter, then we I
lall in that ratio have to consider Jupiter | /
lie size of pumpkin. The distance sepa-
ting the two may be somewhat better i'm q
ressed upon our minds by comparison a
ith known points about the city.
Saturn Once More Is Prominent.
Had it not been for the greater interest d!
lat the two planets already mentioned Q
i've recently attracted, the place of honor 4
II the month should, perhaps, have been b
signed to Saturn-for, while Jupiter fades t
ON sight, Saturn once more becomes U
rominent-as he is in opposition on the n
;th, or at distance of 1900 from the sun, =
I'd changes from a morning to an evening
ar. If not as brilliant in the east in the
rly evening as Venus is in the west, he