The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-01
A MONTH FOR STAR GAZING.
ALL OF THE PLANETS IN FAVOR =
BILE POSITIONS FOR OBSER-
WALTON.

Venus the brilliant star of the May
Heavens-Movins Straight at the
Earth at Rate of Twenty-Five
Miles "a SecOnd-Jupiter to Rival
the brilliant Goddess OF beauty.
During the month Of May every one Of
the planets will be on the same side of the
sun at the same time, and several of them
will be in favorable positions for obser-
walton. on the 4th Mercury will be in
superior conjunction. which means that
1t will be on the opposite side Of the sun
from us. After this date II will be even
ing star, and toward the close of this
month it may be easily seen in the west
at dark.
Venus is the most brilliant star in the
western heavens. She may be easily rec
ognized by her dazzling splondor and
her steady white light The motion Of
Venus is now nearly In a direct line to-
ward the earth, and for tho next two
months she will gain rapidly upon us As
seen through the telescope. Venus appears
like a half moon. and soon she will as
sumo a crescent form. 1t is difficult to
realize that this brilliant point of light
is world nearly as large as our own,
and moving in space at the rate Of %
miles per second, or nearly one hundred
times as fast as a cannon BAH.
About II degrees easr Of Venus shines
Jupiter with a splendor rivaling that of
the goddess Of love and beauty. This giant
world Is now in the constellation Gemini
and in very favorable position for OBJ
servation Its motion now is direct, ana It
will be interesting to observe its change
of position from night to night with ref
erence TO two small fixed stars very near
it. About one and a half degrees to the
northeast of Jupiter may be seen a red
star not SO bright as Jupiter but shining
with steady light. This is the planet
Mars SO prominent in the east last sum-
mer. 1t is gradually receding from us.
Saturn Is now In opposition
and nearest to us. II may
be seen rising in the east a little after
sunset and easily recognized by its large
size and white light. The other bright
star about ten degrees TO the west Is
spica in Virgo. The rings OF Saturn are
now sufficiently widened out to present
me view In the telescope What a mag
nihcent system this A planet, 100 times
as large as the earth with three broad
Hat rings OF meteoric matter revolving
around It, and outside of these rings eight
moons one of which is larger than the
planet Mercury.
Uranus Is barely visible to the naked
eye even on a dark night, though a tee-
scope will reveal it's disk and greenish
light. Uranus will be in opposition to the
sun on the Sth. II Is now situated in the
constellation Libra. about IS degrees
southeast of Saturn. Uranus was discov-
cred by Herschel IN 1881. 1t is sixty-five
times the size of the earth, and revolves
around the sun in eighty-four years. It
has four moons which revolve around the
planet I'm a direction opposite to that of
our moon around the earth.
Along the ecliptic Libra Is just rising,
Virgo is midway, Leo is on the meridian,
Cancer is past, next Gemini, and lastly
Taurus just setting. In the north, Ursa
Major is above the Cepheus and Casiopeia
below. and Perseus west. Lyra and Her
cules are IN the northeast and Orion and
CAMS Major In the southeast. Nearly
overhead at dark IS Regulus the bright
star in the sickle of Leo. a little to the
northeast Arcturus blazes with a red light.
This star is approaching us at the rate Of
by name in the book of Job. (See Job, 9: 81
Otis Ashuorp