Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-01

which is Fomalhaut a star of the frs
magnitude; Sagittarius, the archer: Scorpio
just setting; Ophiuchus. the serpent holder
ana lastly the writhiug serpent itself. Here
Is fine field in which the imagination car
revel-with the aid of a chart.
In midheavens, toward the west, may be
seen the constellation Hercules. known an,
clef lily also as EngonaSin, the Kneeler. The
sketch OF him given in the planisphere was
drawn from life, 1. e.. from the stars them
selves. not from a chart.
Directly overhead is the Northern Cross
known automatically as Cygnus the Swan
The beginning of Autumn.
On the I'D of this month, at 500 p.m
Washington mean time. the sun will "enter
Libra" according to the almanac, and au-
trmn will begin. That is. the sun in its ap-
parent annual round of the heavens-caused
by the earth's revolution in it's orbit, and
performed in a direction from west to east
VIII then cross the celestial equator, and
Its course during the ensuing six month s
VIII be In the southern hemisphere. The
path which the sun would appear to pursue
among the stars, could they be seen in the
daytime. is plotted on the planiSphere. This
path is known automatically the eclip-
tic. 1t runs along the center of the zodiac
the broad animal girdle which forms the
highway of the sun. moon and planets-and
is divided by the twelve zodiacal signs
irto twelve equal parts. The signs now
above the horizon at pm. are marked on
tic symbols. Named in order from west to
east they are Scorpio-a part only-Sagitta-
rius. Capricorn. Aquarius. Pisces. Aries and
part of Taurus. They bear the same
names as the consultations through which
the ecliptic passes. ard formerly conceded
with them. But owing to the fact that the
eQuinoxes-the two points at which the sun
eros ses the equator-are not stationary. but
are slowly sliding along the ecliptic from
east to west. the whole series of signs has
in the past 1000 years been displaced some
thirty degrees toward the west, so that the
sun now enters each sign a full month be-
fore il enters the conStellat ton of the same
name.
The Moons Path.
Our planisphere for this month shows also
the moons path and the position of the
moon at o'clock on every evening when
she is above the horizon at that hour. The
numbers indicate days of month. 1t will
be Seen that on the 14th the moon will be
near her ascending node"-the. point at
which she crosses the suns path from south
to north-and also near the verral equinox.
where the suns path crosses the equator.
The sun will then be at the same distance
from the autumnal equinox, on the north
side of the equator, ard will therefore be at
the exact opposite point in the heavens.
The moon will be full and since she will
be very close TO the suns path an eclipse
will take place. 1t will be only partial.
however. only about one-fourth of the
moons diameter being immersed In the
earth's shadow. The eclipse will be visible
throughout the eastern and central parts of
the United States. The hour of the moon S
entering the shadow will be about 1870,
Washington mean time, varying a few min
utes with the locality.
The Planets.
Mercury will be an evening star after the
Sd of the month. but will be too near the
sun to be visible.
Venus is still a morning star, about an
hour and Il half in advance of the sun.
Mars is evening star and is above the
Ecrizor at p. m. He is in the constellation
Aries Sign Taurus), about ten degrees south
of the pair of stars which mark the Ram
head. The planet exceeds in brilliancy a
star of the first magnitude and no one who
will look for it in the place indicated can
fail to identify it.
Jupiter now rises soon after midnight. and
before the close of the month will have be-
come an evening sta-.
Saturn has practically closed his season
for this year, setting before g o'clock. IRA
nus sets an hour later Neptune. a short
distance east of the star Aldebaran, rises at
about IL p. m.