The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-08-21
sr,ny IN .usu usr SKIES.

Positions Of Various Planets.
 The last few weeks have produced
 marked difference in the duration or
 the day as compared with the latter
 part of June. The places of the suns rising. continuation. and setting are tur- ther to the south than they were live or six weeks ago. and the movement In that direction is continuous Summer is. however, still to be enjoyed. as we can yet feel the sunshine throbbing on body and limb. The portions of the circle traversed by the sun above the horizon are steadily being shortened and the time of It's visibility as steadily shrinks In duration. In a popular sense. the most notable astronomical event of August's annals Is the mete- oric display which occurs on and around the 10th Of the month. The August meteors are called Perseids be- cause they appear to issue from that part of the sky occupied by the constel- lation Perseus. This star group rises in the northeast now between 10 and II o'clock, rather nearer the latter hour, between which time and the morning twilight Is the most favorable time to look for 1t. A few of these shooting stars" may be seen on any night or the year when the sky Is clear If looked for long enough. but they will be more numerous and brilliant on the nights of August 9, 10 and Il than at any other time except November 12 and 13.
 Those of the latter date are called Leonidas, because they come from the direction of the constellation Leo. The earth in sweeping along it's orbit dashes through a meteor zone encir- cling the sun on August 9, 10 and Il every year, being about the middle of this belt on the 10th. Myriads of the meteors are attracted by the earth and turned from their course. Flying in this direction, they ignite when they encounter our. atmosphere, and thus become visible to us. Looked for about midnight toward the northerly part of the sky, scores of these shooting stars have often been seen within an hour or two when the atmosphere was favor able for observation. Millions of them die and leave no trace to tell like will o'-the-wisps lighting the moor and leav- ing a tail of fire behind.
 Hurki. the Moon God, has full recog- milton in this month of August, as he sends us two new moons, one on the 1st and the second on the 30th. This gives us five phases of the moon, a somewhat unusual occurrence, which we have about twice each year. The moon is not, however, queen in an ab- solute monarchy, all the eminent stars keeping their places and shining splendidly with live, fire of silver beams. How different always is the light of the stars from that of the moon! Six months ago the stars we now have with us in the evening stroll along the shore or through the hills were not in sight to us, coming within our horizons limits while the sun was shining. Six months hence what we are now admiring will have been re- placed by those DOW visible and the starry maps will Seem very different. The movements of the stars in these jocund clear nights suggest a ring of children with hands joined about one of their own number placed in the center of the circle. They dance on and on. around and around, disappear, return and disappear again. One could fancy the sky swims giddily with their changeful splendors
 The lunar conjunctions begin with distant meeting between the moon and the Ringed Planet pn the 9th, followed on the 7th by somewhat similar meet ing with Uranus. We do not have another until the Fist when Mars turn comes, succeeded on the day of last quartering by Neptune, but all too far away for scenic effect. Jupiter on the 26th and Venus on the 18th are not and on the day of the young crescent Mercury and the moon come quite close together. but the brilliant sun light engulfs them both and prevents our having the pleasure of seeing the meeting. For our power to live and move, for the plenty with which we are surrounded, for the beauty with which nature is adorned. we are i'm mediately indebted to one body in the countless hosts of space, and that body is the sun. His gracious beams supply the magic power that enables our corn and wheat to grow and ripen.
 It is the heat of the sun which raises water from the ocean in the form of vapor and then sends down that vapor as rain to refresh the earth and to fill the rivers which bear our ships down to the ocean.
 Uranus leads off with being in quad rature, or ninety degrees from the sun and to the eastward of that body, on the Srd. To travel over this distance and reach the point of conjunction, a period of three months will be neces- sary. Saturn was long supposed to be the outermost body belonging to the solar system. In 17S1. when Her schel was examining the stars in the constellation of the twins, he was struck by one that presented a very distinct disk. while the true fixed stars however brilliant, are, even with the most powerful telescope, mere points of light. At first he thought it might be a comet, but careful observations showed that it really was a new planet. Though thus discovered by
 Herschel, it had often been seen be- fore, but its true nature was unsus- pected. It has a diameter of about l 31 ,000 miles. .
 Saturn is an evening star again this
 month, and 1t is the constellation o1 the Virgin not so very far from the