Evening star., 1896-10-31

the earth s path. Round this great
inclined orbit the meteors glide in a stream
which lengthens as 1T moves. inward to-
ward the sun. and becomes shorter during
each outward journey. Where the swarm
passes the earth it is about 100000 miles
thick, ana Of such q length that though it
travels at the rate of twenty-seven miles
second. the great procession takes two
years to pass us, and when its hinder part
Is stu with US Its front will have reached
to between the orbits of Jupiter and Sat
Urn. Nevertheless. although so immensely
long, 1t extends over only a portion of the
circumference of it's own great orbit, which
traverse.
''The front of this great swarm will next
reach the earth's orbit late in the spring
of 1899. The earth will then be in distant
part Of it's orbit. but in the middle of the
following November, and in November
1900. 1t will pass obliquely through the
mighty stream, and on each Of these occa-
sions there will be an astounding rain of
meteors, probably for about five hours, on
the whole of the advancing side of the
earth.
Known ns the LeOnids.
Meteors belonging to the same system al
ways move in the same, or very nearly the
same, direction after entering the earths
atmosphere; that is to say, their luminous
tracks as they are projected on the sky
are parallel to one another. Yet, owing to
the effect of perspective. they appear. to
radiate from some common point The posi-
ton of this radiant" has been chosen as a
convenient means of naming each system
These November meteors, in wha tever part
of the heavens they may be seen, all move
in tracks which, prolonged backward, lead
to a point near the star Gamma in the
constellation Leo. Hence they are known
as the "LeOnids.'
Although it is only at intervals of thirty
three years. that the earth passes through
the main body of the Leonids, when occur
those. startling phenomena known as ''me-
teor showers''-the last was in 1S66-there
are struggling meteors along the whole
line Of march in sufficient number to give
us annually an interesting display Of this
sort of celestial pyrotechnics. The main
army is now approa ching the earth, though
still three years distant. and it will be well
to be on the watch for the appearance OF
Its advance guard.
In the middle of November the coristelL
lation Leo rises about midnight, Meteors
belonging to this group, seea before that
hour. Will all appear TO proceed from
point below the horizon. In the east The
display Is usually the greatest after mid
night. All the fshowers',c of the Leonids
have occurred in the morning hours-the
morning Of the 18th or 14th Of the month
On the 9th of the month the earth will
pass through another system of meteors
known as the "Andromedes," their radiant
being in the constellation Andromeda, near
the left foot. These meteors are interest
ing because, moving in the path of Biela $
lost comet, they are supposed to be the
fragments of that body, disintegrated into
a ShOal of meteorS.
The Planets.
Mars. near the western border of Gemtni
and about midway between Aldebaran and
Pollux, the lower of the two Twins" now
rises at about 8 pm. It is, upmistakable,
owing to Its great brilliancy and its we'll
known ruddy color Up to this date its
motion has been 'direct''-toward the east
Tomorrow 1t will be Stationary" During
the remainder of the year it's course will
be retrograde-toWard the west. Our near
est approach to the planet this year will
be on December 4, six days before the date
OF opposition" Our distance from It
then will be, In round numbers Sc, ,OOO, 600
miles,
The most interesting of the reports Of
observations of Mars thus far received
come from Flagstaff. Ariz., where Mr..
Percival Lowell, assisted by Mr.. Drew and
Mr.. Douglass, began the study Of the
Planet with a new telescope OF twenty -four
lnohes aperture on July %. Mr.. Lowell
hnds things going on upon the planet just
as they did at the same date-Martian date
two years ago, or one year ago. Marian
time. for the length of the planets year
Is nearly twice that of ours. The same
seasonal changes are taking place and
In the same order. At the last accounts
he was watching the doubling up of
some or the canals-a remarkable phenome-
non, first observed by Schiaparelli himself,
the dlscoverer of the canals and seen by
Mr.. Lowell and other observers, taking
pace two years ago in regular and or
deriy way which shows that, though thus
far wholly unaccountable, it has some close
relation with the advancing season.
The Marian Water Supply.
Our knowledge of Mars has been very
greatly extended in the last four years.
There can no longer be reasonable doubt
that. While the planet has water upon its
surface it's water supply Is very small
relatively to that of the earth, and shat the
greenish or grayish spots seen upon 1t are
not bodies of water-"seas"-as has here
tcfore been supposed to be the case but
are the planets loWlands. owing their color
IN part at least. to vegetation. mhe ex-
| istehce OF the canals long doubted, has
been -abundantly established 10y the obser-
vations made at Arequipa, Flagstaff, Mount
Hamilton and elsewhere, and the more
oistinctly they are seen the more r VS.
ti1ymg they become. Mr.. Lowell is fully
convinced that they are of an artificial
origin. and certainly, as they appear in
the drawings of them made by those who
nave seen them best, they are quite mex
pilcabie on any theory of a natural origin.
Can 1t be that we are on the point of hay
iEg prcof positive that Mars Is now in
hablted by intelligent beings, as 1t is al
| most certainly the scsne of vegetable life
ana doubtless of animal life of some sort?
Mercury is a morning star. but is too
near the sun to be visible. 1t will be in
2Sth. ~
Venus now shines brightly for a short
time after sunset as an evening star.
jupiter Is morning star. rising about
Saturn and Uranus are in close company
In the constellation Scorpio, both near the
sun. Saturn will be Ian conjunction with
the sun on the 18th
Neptune is still in Taurus, about ten de-
greeS to the west of Mars.
A MODERN BROOK FARM.