Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-01-18
JANUARY HEAVENS
ALL THE GREAT PLANETS WILL
BE VISIBLE.
THE SKY NOW 4 BEAUTIFUL.
SIGHT AT NIGHT
New Noon the 9th OF the Month. the
First Of Thirteen That VIII Be Seen
in 1S94-NeW Year Will Be Rich
In Number Of Eclipses.

One advantage Of the new year over
the old, says the New York Times is
to be found in its greater number of
eclipSes. There will be Just twice as
many as in 1893. There will be two
eclipSeS of the sun and two of the
moon, Il partial eclipse of the moon on
September II being the only one to
which we shall be treated in this por-
ton Of the globe. -Four is somewhat
above the annual number Of eclipSes.
The largest number that can take
| place any year is seven, five being OF
the sun and two of the moon, and the
smallest number two, both of which
are of the sun.
The earth in January is at its nearest
to the sun, the distance between the
two bodies being 100000 miles less
than what it is in July. Heat on the
earth, though, or the absence of heat
is determined less by the distance of
the heat-giving source than it is by the
angle at which the heat rays strike and
the length of time in which they
! strike In June and July the sun, to
all the globe north of the equator, is
! higher than it is in December and
January, and shines longer, and this
is the reason why, in the region men
toned, the former are hot months and
the latter are cold. While we are hay
| ing our winter the half of the globe
south of the equator is hayings its sum-
mer. AS the sun is at it's nearest to
the earth when the people south OF
the equator have their summer and as
! it is furtheSt from the earth when they
! have their winter, the summers in their
region are hotter and the winters cold
! er than ours are.
The year 1894, which comprises the
| latter part of the 18th and the begin
ming of the 10th year of the independ.
ence OF the United States of America,
corresponds to the year 6607 of the
Julian period, and the year 5654-5 of
the Jewish year. Our new year s~day
comes about three months after the
ending of the Jewish year 5G54, which,
properly speaking, ends on sunset of
| September 80. The year 1872 of the
| MOhammedan era, or the era of tue
/ hegira, begins on the 9TH day of July
next From some of these data We
can readily see that tomorrow will be
the 2,412, S30th day since the COM
mencement of the Julian period,
January was quite Il favorite month
among the ancients for certain prayers
! and ceremonies, Il number of which
have been continued in later years.
| The Greeks cast a cross in the sea on
the 9th of January, with certain inter
esting ceremonies, to render it tit for
! navigation. The waters are blessed at
| COnStantinOple on the 18th Of the
month, and on the same day the waters
of the River Neva are blessed in Rus
STA. A chapel is built on the ice, and
the priest dips out water through q
| hole, making the sign of the cross three
times, and then sprinkles the people
with holy water. The people take with
| them to the ceremony Il large number
of empty bottles, which they fill with
river water and take home for purify
| ing purposes.
i In Roumania they begin the new year
with the blessing of the waters, to
+
| pc, not twenty years ago, priests bless
! ed the sea, sprinkling water upon it,
| signing the cross over it, and saying
litanieS for the repOse of the souls of
the drowned, while in Kerry the fisher
men always had an annual mass per
| formed in the bay. A number of SIM
liar instances of ceremonies, sacrifices,
and oblations offered directly to the
sea are recorded during the early days
of navigation.
/ Stars are. we know, of different mag
nitudeS and different degrees of glory,
as well as of different colors. Most,
indeed, are white, but some are reddish,
others ruddy, and still others intensely
red, while we also find green, blue and
violet. 1t is possible that the compare
tive rarity of those cOlOrS is due to the
j fact that our atmosphere especially alb
serbs green and blue, and it is remark
able that almost all of the green, blue
or violet stars are of pairs of double
stars. and in every case the smaller
one of the two, the larger being red,
orange or yellow. One of the most eX-
stellation of the Swan, the larger be-
ing golden yellow, the smaller light
blue With a telescope the effect is
very beautiful, but it must be truly
magnificent, if one could only see it
from a lesser distance
Double stars occur in considerable
numbers. In some cases, indeed, the
relation may only be apparent, one be-
ing really far in front of the other
In very many cases, however, the as
ISOLATION is real and they revolve
around one another. In some cases
the period may extend to thousands Of
years, for the distance which separates
them is enormous, and, even when with
a powerful telescope it appears only
as a narrow, dark line, amounts to
hundreds of millions of miles. The
Polar star itself is double. Andromeda
is triple, with, perhaps, a fourth dark
and, therefore, invisible companion.
These dark bodies have special in
terest since it is impossible not to ask
ourselves whether some, ut any rate,
of them may not be inhabited From
double and triple stars one naturally
passes to star clusters, in which the
number is very considerable. The
cluster in the constellation of Hercules
for example, consists Of from 1000 to
1000 stars. A stellar swarm in the
Southern Cross contains several hun.
dred stars Of various colors, red, green