Birmingham age-herald., 1895-06-09
SKIES IN JUNE.
The Planetary Aspect of Planets-Ihe Motions of Planets Direct and
 Retrograde Motions.

The moons phases dun 1g the month of June are: Fun on the 9th, last quar- ter on the 14th new on the 22d, first quar- ter on the 29th. It will be in apogee on the 18th, and perigee on the 24th. The sun, which on the 1st of the month will be 22 degrees, 3 minutes and 54 seconds north of the equator moves slowly north ward and will reach the most northern limit, the summer solstice, Friday, the Fist of June, when it's maximum declin- ation will be 23 degrees, 27 minutes and Is seconds. It then will assume it's south ern course, moving at first very slowly. The average length of the day, that is from sunrise to sunset, will be fourteen hours and forty-two minutes
 In clear nights, during the evening hours of May, persons whose SenSe of the beautiful extend to the worlds above will have noticed two stars close together in the southwest portions of the sky and shining with a brilliancy which could not failito engage their attention and ex- cite their admiration. In fact the two most brilliant planets, Jupiter and Ve- nus, were in as close a proximity as we can expect to witness in long intervals. During the month of June they will still remain somewhat near each other but their distance from each other will grad ually increase, as Venus, in consequence of it's nearness to the sun, will change its position among the stars far more rapidly than distant Jupiter. Both plan cts are in the constellation Gemini, Venus setting little after 10 o'clock and Jupi- ter about S30. The planet Mars, the third in that brilliant trio of evening stars, is in Cancer, and will set about 10 o'clock. Saturn, also an evening star, at present is in Virgo, and Uranus in Libra. The latter can scarcely be seen with the unaided eye. Since the planets Venus and Mercury are in within the orbit of the earth. for which reason they are called inferior planets, they present phases like the moon, just according to their relative position to the earth and sun.
 It might be supposed here that Venus is brightest when she is at inferior con- Junction, that is, between the earth and the sun, and consequently nearest the former, for in this position she is six times as large as when she is at supe- rior conjunction; ;7 that is, on the oppo- site side of the sun. This would. how ever, be a false conclusion, for near her inferior conjunction the illuminated DOT tfon of her disc is too small. At her su>' perior conjunction she is full indeed, but too distant to present her brightest appearance. According to certain laws in optics she is brightest at an elonga- tion of about 40 degrees, her phase then being about the same as that of the moon three days from the new moon Of the superior planets Mars is the only one which presents noticeable phase, this being, however, only like that of the | Gibbons moon. Jupiter, Saturn Uranus and Neptune are far too distant to ex- hibit anything resembling a phase We should make ourselves guilty of an un- pardonable omission by not mentioning something concerning the motion of the planets, that not infrequently causes some perplexity in the minds of those