The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1895-12-08
SKIES IN DECEMBER.

SIN. new on the 18TH ana hrSt quarter on
tho sd. on the 9th she will be in porigoc
and on the I'D In aposee. The suns de-
clination on the lat Of the month viii be
2l deg. 40 min. 81 sec. south The sun
WIN reach its southcrmost limit that is.
tne Iropic or Cnprtcorn-on the I'd. MIL
thcn slowly turn northward and WIN at
the beginning Of the new year he - deg.
min, II sec. south OF the equator thus
traversing during the month AN arc of
only deg. t. min. u sec. IN declinaticn.
while II passes through an are of ~ deg
u min. 80 sec. in right ascension and OF
"a deg. 10 min, - sec. ON the ocliptic. The
average length of day Is ahou, hours
~ minutes. the shortest being. OF course.
on the I'D. the beginning OF tho winter
season
since last month the planet Mercury has
ADVANCED into the constellation Scnrpio,
hut VIII he in Sarittari1a about the mid
Ole of the month, where II viii lngcr dur
INK The remainder OF the month Venus
Is still IN Virgo, and viii rise a little be
fore o'clock in the morning aud shine In
tnii instSr as morninS star, " which, ca
nary. Mars viii enter the runsteta ton
Scorpio and rise few minutes before
T a clock, so that one may eaten n glimpse
or i before the morning twilight removes
II from sight. Jupiter Is stiil in Cancer.
aud since II rises u little after 20 o'clock IN
the morning II will he In full view before
Midnight. Saturn IL in Libra and VIII
rise about quarter past In the morn
ing. SO that an early riser may sec 1t how
otine above INC eastern horizon. uranua
Is NOT far from Mara and almost on the
boundary line of Libra and Scorpio while
Neptune will dwell for a considerable
TINE IN the beautiful const llaton OF
Tauras though II may only be visible
through "A telescope Of considerable power.
To tho uninitatcd It must needs I've a
matter Of wonder and porplcxity how tho
distance of the planets from tho sun.
around Which they are hurled In their
ihVariuble orbits, can bc determined with
any sort Of accuracy koplcr who may
justly be considered one of the greatest
astronomical gcuiuscs of the world and
who tour.shcd during the first hair OF
the scVonte NTH century cstabl. shed from
observation three laws. having been called
after their discoVcrcr. "kcplcrs Laws
Whch with Sir Isaac Ncwton's great law
OF ErdNitauun, may be- tcgardcd az the
very Keystone of the theoretical and me
Ghhhical astronomy. Nh" third OF those
avs sometimes and not inappropridtcly
calied the harmonic law " asserts thar
mo squares of the periodic times of the
planets are proportional 10 the cubes OF
mon un"anl distance from the sun. H.
thch. We Know the distance OF the earth
from lh' sun and the periods of the earth
hud the other planets, We are nhiu 10y
means ol inns remarkable proportion to
lna Easily me distance of the planets from
Inc sum Consequently, the determination
OF these distances Is based upon tho dir-
lahee OF tho earth from the ,,n. which
here rettoratc that by the pli uuIs' perioas
We Understand the times OF .N'ir reV,4u-
tiols about The sun. 1t must. inotcfIrc,
appear very natural that 50 ~ trn Lnt.-
mas been taken 49, fixing thc As runuittt al
UNI, as Az the planetary llsblu 'os dcp,iid
uVon ~ II IN This astronomical uut an
tltVl Snould De FOUND, The piiurtdtN ills.
tau'"s can easily be corrected. for *. i,i.
instance, We tnd a distance TO be- seventy
,Wo Yards having been measured with q
NHiHSiick tmu attorward Is found to bc
an lhch loo snort, % is not nee rssarv To