The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1895-04-04
THE CELESTIAL GEMS|
A Brilliant Galaxy for
April.
Venus in all Her Summer
Beauty.
An Interesting Exposition of the Stars
and Consultations Showing Their
SeasOnable Movements.

SeasOnable Movements.
On a clear, moonless night in winter
or early spring, the most magnificent
consultations of the year are to be
seen. Toward the north is the dipper,
it's pointers ever directed toward the
pole star, whose steady light is eager
ly sought by the lost traveller or
mariner. Toward the
south are the beautiful pleiades and
magnificent orion, never to be forgot
ten by one who has once learned to
know them. Toward the east is the
lion, the well marked sickle indicating
his head. All over the celestial dome
the. glowing consultations can be
traced. Across them lies the family
defined, gauzy light of the milky way.
On April list, at 6 o'clock in the eve
ming, due south and about one-third of
the way from the horizon to the
zenith, is Sirius, the brightest fixed
star in the heavens. This giant star,
four times as large as our sun and
emitting fOrty-two times as much
light, has been known since the dawn
of history. Its appearance in the
heavens showed the Egyptians when
to SOW their grain. A little to the
north and west Of Sirius is the con-
stellation Orion, and still further west
are the Pleiades and Hyades in
Taurus.
But during this month, the constel-
lations are not the only beautiful OBJ
jects to be seen in the heavens. Four
planets add their light to that of the
fixed stars, and two Of them, Venus
and Jupiter, outshine even Sirius.
The most brilliant star to be seen
in the sky during the month of April
is the planet Venus, the evening star.
AS soon as the sun sets it will be Wis
ible in the west, it's splendid beams
piercing the twilight long before the
other stars can be seen. To the unaid-
ed eye or even through an opera glass,
it always appears round with rays
of light forming halo about the cen
trail body, but a telescope shows that
| it presents phases like the moon,
sometimes slender crescent, some
times a quarter, and then full. Just
now it is gibbous, like the moon be-
tween first quarter and full. 1t is
moving eastward among the stars at
a somewhat faster rate than the sun
and it's brightness is slowly increas-
| ing. The crescent moon will pass a
short distance north of it April 9th.
| Venus is not the largest of the plan
cts, nor is it surrounded with system
of satellites, nor does it present beau
tiful surface markings like some 9th
er members of the solar system, but
to the naked eye it stands unrivaled
1t is inside the earth's orbit, being
only sixty-seven million miles from
the sun, and does not appear to re-
yolve around the sun, but vibrates
back and forth. Its movements seem
very uncertain. Sometimes it moves
rapidly either toward or from the
sun, and then again it leisurely makes
It's way among the stars or even
stands still for days. For many weeks
| it may be invisible; we have almost
forgotten it when some clear evening
we see it in the west, down near the
horizon, just after sunset. Night af.
ter night it moves further away, in
creasing in brightness. When it is
forty-seven degrees from the sun, OF
about half way from the horizon to
the zenith at sunset, it seems to stop
and then begins to retrace it's steps.
While it takes two hundred and TWEEN
| ty days to pass from the sun to its
greatest distance east, only seventy
one days are necessary for the jour
ney back. This year it will reach its
greatest distance east July 10th, and
will pass the sun again September
18th. 1t will then disappear from
sight, but few days later it will be
seen in the east, just before sunrise
as the morning star. Continuing it's
rapid journey, it will reach it's great
est distance west of the sun NOvem-
Der 10Th. Turning once more it will
slowly approach the sun, remaining
during the winter and spring of 1896,
to light up the eastern sky with it's
radiant splendor.
When Venus is first seen in the
west it is on the other side of the
sun and is furthest away, being then
about one hundred and sixty million
miles from us. Its disc in the tele-
scope appears circular, like the full
moon. But on account of it's dis
tance it does not send US the greatest
quantity Of light, which depends on
both the phase and the distance. AS
it apparently moves away from the
sun, it is approaching the earth and
its phase changes from full to glib
bous; but it's apparent diameter is
greater and it's light is increasing.
When it reaches it's greatest distance
from the sun, only one-half the sur
face turned toward us is lighted. AS
it moves back toward the sun the disc
changes to crescent, but it is so near
the earth that it's light still increases
and reaches maximum when the
planet is thirty-eight degrees from
the sun. This year, Venus will reach
it's greatest brilliance about August
18th and October oath. When furthest
from the sun it is frequently seen in
the daytime with the naked eye, thus
showing that it far outshines all other
members Of the heavenly host except
the sun and moon.
The Greeks had two names for
Vunus- when morning
star and Hesperus when evening star,
because they supposed them to be diff
ferent planets. But after time it
was noticed that they were never
ne same day. AS Phosphorus
ed the sun it became invisi-
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