The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-08-05
sTAR-GAzERs.
Wonders of Interest In August skies-As-
 tronomlcal Notes.

tronomlcal Notes.
 The chief incidents of astronomical moment In August are the arrival of the planet Venus at It's greatest brill fancy, the passage of the earth through a stream of meteors, and the occulation of portion of the Pleiades,
 Venus will reach her greatest bright ness on the 18th. It can be seen with the naked eye in broad daylight, but the difficulty is to know just where to look There are several ways of de- Iterminlng its direction. Perhaps the best is to look when the moon Is near it, for then we have a visible guide to
 it's position.
 On the 22d the moon will pass near Venus; the planet should be looked for
 on that day in the early afternoon, about four degrees south of the moon,
 or eight times the diameter of the
 moon below it. On other days it may
 be seen by looking for it when 1t Is due south, the wall of building or other
 guide helping to give the direction. On the first it is due south at 2:35 p. m, and is forty-nine degrees above the horizon, or little more than half way to the zenith. On the 18th it is due south at 213 p. m., and is forty-four de- grees high.
 The August meteors belong to very wide belt of meteors which the earth passes through in the second week of the month, the 10th being the average date of the greatest number. Meteors can be seen on any clear evening until after the middle of the month, but only at occasional intervals. They will nos | be so numerous at any one time as 70 warrant the use of the word shower i'm describing them
 The meteors are in the path of a comet which was visible in 1862 and which is moving in a large ellipse ! taking over 100 years to complete one revolution The meteors of this swarm radiate from the constellation Per l seus and are sometimes called Persedds A few meteors are also seen in August (which radiate from the constellation l Aquarius.
 ! The moon passes over some of the stars of the Plejades each month of the present year, and for several years te come, the occulations of February 8 August IA and December being visible | in this part of the world. If the weath. CT conditions are propitious, early on the 14th inst. the phenomenon will be wortt 1 seeing, though it occurs between 12:3( and 2:15 a. m. The moon passes over the northwestern stars of the group hiding three of the six brighter stars and three others easily seen with a small telescope.
 ! Scientifically, an occuiation furnishes means for determining accurately the path of the moon among the stars, or il may be used to calculate the longitude of the observers position. The proof that the moon has a very slight atmos.
 phere, if any at all, depends upon the
 observation of occulations, because i l there was an appreciable lunar envel-
 ope, the disappearance and reappear. ane would be gradual, not sudden The time that the star is hidden, also would be less than that calculated from the rate of the moons motion, as refrac l ton would delay the appearance ane hasten the reappearance, just as I | causes our sun to appear before he act ually rises, and to be seen at sunset af ter he has actually set, thus shortening the might at both ends.
 The August moon is full on the 5th lnew on the goth, and at last and frs quarter on the 18th and 27th respect liVely.