The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-01
4 LONG WAY TO TRAVEL.
The Earth 100000 Miles Nearer the
Sun This Month Than in June.

It's Motion Nineteen Miles a Second
and the Suns Attraction to Keep it
in Place Equal to the Strength of
steel Wire Gable 5000 Miles in
Diameter and Reaching From the
Earth to the Sun.
Ats O'Clock on the morning of the 22d
the sun will arrive at the winter solstice.
after which the days will again begin to
lcnrthen. On the evening of the Both the
Garth will pass through the perihelfon
noint of its orbit, when it will be three
million miles nearer the sun than in June
II, motion in its orbit is nineteen miles
per second, and the attractive force of
the sun necessary to hold it in its orbit
is equal to the tensile strength of a steel
wire cable five thousand miles in diam
eter and reaching from the earth to the
sun.
MERCURY.
Mercury is now morning star. and it
may be seen best on the morning of the
18th. when it will attain its greatest
western elongation. An early riser may
see it about 20 to the south of the east
point Of the horizon at daybreak about
one hour and half inadvance of the sun.
VENUS.
Brighter and brighter still grows the
respondent queen of the west
cru sky, but while her bril-
Hancy will continue to increase for sew
cral weeks yet. her angular distance from
the sun will begin 10 diminish
after the 9th. Her greatest elOngation
well be a 80, and her motion then Will
be directly towards the earth. 1t will be
interesting to watch this planet turn back
towards the sun ana sink lower and
lower every evening towards the western
horizon. it has been thought that Venus
rOtates upon its axis once in % hours and
81 minutes, but recent observations rem
derit probable that the planet rotates
once for every revolution around the sun.
1t is doubtful if the solid part of Venus
has ever been seen. What we see is the
dazzling sunlight reflected from the white
clouds in which the planet proper is COM
pletely enveloped
MARS AND URANUS.
Mars and Uranus are both morning
stars, and are now quite close together.
Indeed, on the mornings of the 9Th and
It'll, the apparent distance between them
will be only about One-fourth the dame
ter of the moon, and a small telescope
can easily include both in the same field
of view. As Uranus is difficult to locate.
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it, Mars is a bright, red star easily rec
ognized, and it rises about IL to the
south of the east point of the horizon
about two hours and a half before the
sun. Uranus is on the north side of Mars
and Is telescope.
JUPITER.
The brightest star in the east at dark is
Jupiter, now in the constellation Taurus
near the Pleiades. 1t is in the best
possible position for observation this
month. and no star in the heavens will
better repay a telescope observation than
this one. Four of its five moons may be
seen with a telescope of moderate power,
arranged like a row of diamonds in the
plane of the planets equator, On the
evenings OF the 5th and the 9TH number
of ecipses, transitS and OSCILLATIONS of
these satellites will occur in close sue
cessiOn, and fine opportunity will then
be afforded for observing their curious
changes.
SATURN AND NEPTUNE.
Saturn is morning star, but at present
its great distance from Us deprives it of
special interest. 1t rises about , o'clock
Neptune will be in opposition to the sun
on the third, and hence invisible Its dis
lance from US then will be the greatest
that any planet can attain, being 2SS4.-
100000 miles Neptune. though always
lcleSCOplc. Is 6lgnJY-nNe times as large as
our earth and IS attended by one moon.
THE CoNsTELI ATOMS AND THEFIXED STARS.
In the north Cassiopeia is above Polaris.
and closely following is Perseus. Further
TO the east is Auriga. with the large,
bright star Capella. Below Polaris is
Crsa Major, and near the tail is Brooks
comet visible only in the telescope. IN
the east Orion is inst rising. TO the
northwest OF Orion is Taurus, containing
The red star Aldebaran, the Pleiades, and
at present the planet Jupiter. Higher
mp is Aries. with the celebrated star
Alpha Arietis of the second magni-
tuac. from which the ancients reckoned
celestial longitude Near the horizon in
the south is a large star visible only at
this season and that only for few hours
every night. Its name is Fomalhaut The
large star in the northwest is Vega in
i.yra. Directly overhead is Andromeda
and the Great Square of Pegasus.
located near this square is the great
nebula of Andromeda, visible on a dark
night to the naked eye. 1t has often been
mistaken for comet. 1t is composed of
millions of suns apparently very close to-
Eether though in reality very far apart,
forming perhaps a new universe Of stars
plunged far out into the remote depths of
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