Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-02-14
THE HEAVENS IN FEBRUARY.

month. Since the astronomers
watched it crossing the suns face last
November, Mercury has passed around
the farther side of the sun and is now
preparing to swing once more into line
between the solar orb and the earth,
but this time it will not be seen against
the sun. On February 9th, the little
planet will attain its greatest elonga-
ton east of the sun and will be seen
shining in the sunset glow low in the
west. 1t should be looked for, as soon
after shutdown as possible, two or three
days before and after the 9th. On that
particular day it will be near the
fourth magnitude star lambda in the
constellation AquariuE. But what
will especially serve to identify it is the
presence of Venus. Mercury and
Venus will be in conjunction early OH
the morning of the 10th, and close
enough together on the evening of the
9th to make the sight pretty one.
Mercury will be recognizable as the
more northerly of the two, the distance
separating them being about three de-
grees.
1t will be interesting TO remember
when looking at Mercury on this oc-
casion that the planet is, at the time,
close to its perihelion point or nearest
approach to the sun.
1t will receive (shall we say enjoy p
degree of heat ten times as intense
as that which the sun pours upon the
earth, and yet toward the end of last
December the solar heat on Mercury
was less than half as great as it will be
OIL February 9th. This arises from the
fact that the orbit of Mercury is very
eccentric, so that it's distance from the
sun, which is only 100000 miles on
the average, varies to the extent of
nearly 100000 miles. Luckily for us,
the sun doesn't sport that way with the
earth.
Every lover of the stars will rejoice
at the return of Venus to the western
sky. During the month she will grad
ually draw away from the sun and
brighten little, but she is still far in
the distant part of her orbit and the
real glory of her re-entry as the queen
of the evening is a spectacle reserved
for the spring. At the end of Febru-
airy, however, she will already have
become a conspicuous object, brighten
ing the barren region that lies Oh the
borders of Cetus and Pisces.
Mars remains in Aries during the
first half of the month. In the latter
half his eastward motion will carry
him over into Taurus and he will swing
slowly past the Pleiades on their south
ern side. His splendor has departed,
he is moving farther away, and the sun
is getting lower on that southern pole
of his, whose SHOWS Off SHOWS they are)
sparkled SO brilliantly and vanished so
SO swiftly at the touch of summer last
year.
But while Mars fades, Jupiter con-
tinues a feast for the eyes of all those
happy people who know the joys Of the
telescope. His marvellous panorama
of cloud belts and changing spots, the
delicate blue of his poles, and the gor-
geOuS decoration Of white and rudy
yapOrS that encircles his vast equator,
are sights of another world that no
thoughtful person should miss seeing.
Jupiter is in the eastern part of Tau.
rus some four degrees northeast
of the star Zeta, and almost directly
to point him out, and no constellation
to emphasize his presence. He crosses
the meridian about 8 p. ~, lat the be-
ginning of the month and about p.
m, at the end
| give, as heretofore, two or three
dates on which the shadows of some of
Jupiter's satellites can be seen on his
disk, eastern standard time:
February 10, at TAI p. m, satellite ]
will pass upon the disk; its shadow
will follow at S:45, and the latter will
be half way across about 9:55.
February %, at 9:19 p. M, satellite
II will pass upon the disk; it's shad
ow will follow at 2:OS o'clock the next
morning, and the latter will be halt
way across about 1888 a. m. In the
mean time, at 2:21 a. m. satellite 1 ]
will disappear behind Jupiter.
February "a, at 500 p. M, satellite
i l will pass upon the disk; its shadow
will follow at Ills, and the latter will
be half way across about 12:4O a. m
At II :21 the same night, satellite l will
pass upon the disk; its shadow viii
follow at 1885 a. M, and will be hal
way across about 1:45 a. m.
Saturn is in Libra, some 15o or 16 Q
directly east of the bright star Spica
| 1t cannot be seen before midnight
The same is true of Uranus, when re
mains near the fourth magnitude sta
Iota in Libra. Neptune is in Taurus
n about26o northeast of Aldebaran ant
about Q in anortherly direction from