Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-02-10
THE FEBRUARY HEAVENS.
THEY OFtkR LITTLE OF INTER.
EST TO THE OBSERVER.
Al Opportunity 10 See TIE Zodlaca Llahi at lis
Best ConlubciIons Of the Month.
Interesting Discoveries.

HteitshHU uiscOfeHeS.
To even the most casual 81 observers
It Is probably quite apparent that the
suns influence * more powerful now
than it was in the earlier days of the
year heightened daylight N also per.
crptiblo. as we have both au earlier sun.
rise and later sunset. which unite In
giving us almost an additional hour of
daylight The speed Of the sun as il
is ais ,sod in February over whnt
Il was ri Sanuury, southerly declination
decreasing y degrees between now and
the LIST Of March
Aside from the knowledge that we arc
| gradually being brought nearer the time
Of bright blue skies and warmer weather.
the month of February has no very par
| ticuiur interest 10 ne from an Rstropomi-
cal standpoint. for. with the execution
of the zodiacal light that 0bOut this time
makes its appearance in the western
horizon. there are few features of az.
traCtiyeuess
The peculiar pcarly glow that is some.
| times seen TO spread over a part of the
| Sky in the vicinity of the point where
| the sun hns disappeared after sunset
has been named the 2odiacul light The
| same pe'tacle mU's also hc seen before
| sunrise. and it would seem as III the
| material IN d, ing this light, whatc,cr
| u may be. had u lens-shapcd form with
| the sun Ia the center. Its nature is
matter of conjecture.
The zodiacul light is seen to best adj
| vantage In February. March and April
| The same phenomenon is also visible i'm
| the eastern horizon before sunrise i'm
| September While IFS limits are by no
means well defined It's base varies be-
| tween y and 20 degrees and it's apex
/ 49, Ill NaaH. a. a
| from the sun, with very ill-deGucd
! edges.
What could hc more marvellous than
! the closcness of spectrum analysis? TO
| whatever part of the heavens we turn
| the telescope, armed with this new adj
| dition To a. senses We find the same
! chemical elements with which the pres
| cnt cent I"y las made MS lumiliar upon
| the surface of the earth. From the dis
| tuut worlds of Arcturus and the
| Pleades whence the swift ray of light
| takes many years TO reach us, 10 brings
the story of the hydrogen aud oxygen.
| the yapor of iron or sodium, which set
| IL In notion
There are seven conjuuctous In which
the moon and the planets figure In the
| events OF February, two OF which are exc
cccdngly close, and, weather conditions
| proving favorable, will be- attractive cc-
| lcstiu pictures The series opens Ou the
| 9th with fuirly close meeting between
| the waning crescent aud Saturn. bu, the
| hour h not favorable ON" for the uIuU-
| teur astronomer The day following the
phase of last quarter, Uranus and the
| moon are ut their closest for the month
On the llth Venus aud luua exchange
compliments, followed by Mercury about
| four hours before the old moon giyoa
way TO the new on the 18th. On the roth
We have the prize tabcau in which the
father of men and gods appears almost
enclosed I'm the arms Of our satellite, u
picture we'll worth our standing out In
the brisk, cool evening To watch The
following evening Mars is occultod but
as the planet IN 80 much less brilliant
than Jupiter, the impression upuu our
senses will not equal that of the
evening before. In the January meeting
between the moon and these planets,
Mars received the first visit, whereas
this time Jupiter IL first which shows NJ
that the latter il now nearer the sun
and has passed the warrior On the sd,
the day of the quarcrlug of the moon
| Neptune is In conjunction, but il almost
five degrees 10 the southwark.
Jupiter has only about two months
left to lord IL over the evening planets,
rs hr viii then be in conjunction with
the sun; and when he re-uppoers, We viii
see him shining In the east, just little
before sunrise. one of the most inter-
csdng features OF Jupiter Is the motions
| of lis satellites and the various phases
through which they periodically pass.
The eclpses Of these satellites had been
observed for many years aud the times
of their occurrence had been recorded,
At length il was perceived that a certain
order reigned umouE the eClipses of the
satellites as among all other Astronomical
| phenomena, and IL became possible tu
predict the time at which these eclipsr-
| would take place. When II came, how
ever, TO naming the actual minute ut
which the event would take place the
| predictions were not always successful
These discrepancies demanded attention
aud after a time resulted In most inter.
esting discoveries,
II was noticed that whom the earth
WIS kncar 10 Jupiter the eclipse generally
occurred before the predicted time, while
when the earth happened 20 be nc the
side of its orbit away from Jupiter the
eclipa, occurred after the predicted time
When the satellite enters the shadow its
, light gradually decreases until IL dlsap
pears II Is the last ray of light from
the eclipsed satellite that gives the time
of the eclipse, but that ray of light has
| To travel from the satellite 70 the earth
and enter our telescope before we can
note the occurrence
IL used 10 he thought that light travel
| cd iuStAntaupousy, so that the moment
the eclipse took place WAS assumed Ia
be the instant when the eclipse was seen
i'm the telescope This was found to be-
incorrect and Il was seen that light re-
uuired time 10 travel When the earth
was near Jupiter the light had only a
short journey, the impression of the
eclipse arrived quickly and the event
, | happened sooner than the calculations
Indicated When the earth occupied a
| position far from the planet the light
had q longer journey and took more than
the average time, 80 that the eclipse was
later than the prediction.
This simple explanation removed Tue
difficulty attending the predictions of the
| eclipses The discovery had, however
n significance far more mOmentous, iOi
we learned from IL that light had d
measurable velocity, which amounts e
$4,000 miles per second
One of the most celebrated methods OF
| measuring the distance Of the sun D
derived from combination of eNlcr
. mputs on the velocity of light with as
: Economical measurements. The diuen
sions of the solar system are so consid
cradle TINT q sunbeam requires an np
procinhle interval Of time 20 span th'
abyss which separates the earth from th'
SUI. Eight minutes Is Approximately