The morning call., 1892-08-28
THE SEPTEMBER HEAVENS.
A:"BriIiant Astronomical Spectacle for
Early RiSGrS,
%
Matters + IntsTess to local Amateur Estronc.
mers - Movements Of Mars - The
Moons Changes.
Written FOR THE MoRNfNa CALI.


II one can summon up sufficient courage
70 rise about an hour and a half before the
sun any morning during the first few days
Of September and seek convenient spot
which: has a clear horizon he will find a
really brilliant astronomical spectacle in the
eastern skies About the time mentioned, or
'let:us say at 4;40 a. NJ. when the dawn Is
u OF too far advanced, the observer viii find
= the planet Mercury just barely showing
above the eastern hills and very close to the
bright star Regul1s. 0ne-third of The way
from the sunrise point to the zenith he will
find the beautiful planet Venus, of course
tie most brilliant object in the whole
sky. A little above Venus and to the
right is. The frst-magnitude star ProcvOn
in*the Lesser Dog, while spondingly
TO the left are Caster and Pollux. the twins.
High up IN the northeastern heavens he Will
ind the bright star Capella. and approach
ing the meIidian on the south is the grand
constellation Of Orion. with its two first
magnitude stars, Rgel and Betelgeuse. The
thu ee stars in Orion's belt point upward To-
ward the PleiadeS and downward TO Sirius,
= IN CAMS Major, that great sun which flashes
ONT in our heavens with brnlancy that
almost rivals the Splendor of the morning
star. The little group called tie Pleades
IS in the constellation Taurus. which also
is now on tile meridian and just south OF the
zenith.
Now turn toward the west and what
difference! *CThis is in the morning.. All
tie effects just described, and which form
The glory Of the winter skies, are IN the
eastern half-Of the visible heavens; on the
other side there is hardly star brighter
than The second or third magnitude.
INTERESTING TO AMATEURS
Many things VIII combine to make Sep
tember an Interesting month for local anna
teur. astronomers, including the autumn
meeting of: the Astronomical Society Of the
Pacific st Mount Hamilton, which is billed
for next Saturday night. Mercury and
Venus are both morning stars, and both
viii during the month reach their greatest
western elOngatiOn, the former en- Septem-
Der 10 his sister planet eight days later.
The amplitude OF Mercury's arc from the
sun VIII only reach IS deg, While that Of
Venus is over 46 deg, Astronomers are
always on the watch for possible Gceulta-
ton Of some star by one OF these plan
cts. Particularly by Venus. but the
chances ':of seeing such a phenomenon
are very small iadeed. The stars
seem SO numerous when we glance
up al the SKY, that one can hardly appreci-
ate he slender possibility; aud Indeed, it
does seem strange thata planet which some
times becomes minute Of an arc IN diane
ter saOud continually traverse a zone in
the sky over 10 diameteTs OF the moon in
But OccutatOns of stars by the planets are
very rare events; l can only recall two such
occurrences during late years. IN each case
an occultatfon OF a small star by Jupiter. A
capable astronomer. Mr. MaTth, keeps
pretty close watch on these phenomena, and
if one occurs We Will doubtless be warned
of it.
THE RED PLANET.
Tie planet Mars reaches peTiheiion on
g September !. If the opposition had been
delayed until more nearly this date the op-
poItunlty would have been somewhat more
favorable, but the apparent siZe Of Mars
would nave been only little greater. Mars
VIII figure prominently in the most in terest-
ing event 0f tie month. hich Will take
place about Q o'clock or the evening Of
: September 8 the night Of the Astrcnomial
Society meeting. The moon, being three
days before the full. will pass over or "Oc-
cult" The fiery planet, and the event viii be
easily seen in San Francisco At least this
j. what | gather from the pages of the
Nautical Almanac
Since the moon is so near 10 US its ''par-
aNgB, or apparent displacement in diffsr-
ent portions Of the sky, causes great vari-
alton IN its movements as seen from one or
another place on the earth. For This reason
Ills extremely difficult to lOTeteil, without
gOiHg through a tedius computation, Just
what VIII be our satellites behavior toward
any OF the stars. A prediction which would
be just right for Washington would be all
But a rough calculation shows that the &C.
c0ltation is. pretty certain to be visible here
and 50 L viii boldly assert that the planet
viii pass behind the moons disk shortly
after 9.oelock on the evening of September
3; they Will cross the meridian together
lAlers hidden behind the noon at 10 O'clock
and little later than this hour the planet
viii emerge at the right lunar limb. To see
the brilliant planet rapidly fade away and
then disappear when close to the apparent
: 1eft-hard border of the moon will be a very
-InteresuDg spectacle, and one easily visible
with aa opera-glass or even the unaldad
vision.
i seems likely, from the almanac data,
that jupiter will go through the same per-
fOymance about 3 A. ". on September 9.
However, the moon will be close TO the
horizon at this time, and il would be a very
risky thing 10 make any such prediction
without careful calculation. Jupiter is
now 10 splendid position for our telescope
users. He comes to opposition early in
= October" and hence is now well up in the
sky at a convenient hour of the evening.
Perhaps no other object in the whole heav-
ems affords as much satisfaction to the
owners or small glasses as does this grand
planet. with MS cloud-cOYered disk and
continually changing satellites.
ARCTURUs.