The evening times., 1896-04-29
POSITIONS OF THE STARS
Face Of the Heavens for the
Month Of May.
JUPITER STILL LINGERING
TheNumerousC Osmical Bodies Which
the Sun COmpels to Revolve About
1.-THE Fall of Meteor and the
. Cause of 1.-THE Great Dipper-A
Conspicuous Triangle,

The lunar phases during the month OF
May are as follows: Last quarter on the
4th, new on the 18th, first quarter on the
Goth and full on the 26h. she Will be
In apogee on the 9Th andpe rigee Oh the z 4th.
On the first of the month the sun Will be
degrees. s seconds aud 52 minutes, and
on the last 22 degrees, seconds and 81
minutes north of the equator.
The planet Mercury will be in Aries at
the beginning, in Taurus at the middle andin
Gemini al the eud of the month. Venus VIII
linger in Pisces until the la tier portion OF
the month"; when { will enter Aries. She
will shine as morning star, though not
so brightly since she rises when the MORN
Ing twilight as sct-iu.
During the greater part of May Mars will
DC in Aquarius aud then in Pisces. This
planet will rise between 8 and A o'clo ok
in the morning and hence shine as bright
morning star. Jupiter is still lingering in
Cancer, shining during the hours Of the
evening in the Western sky and Sc ting
little before midnight.
Saturn is in Virgo, shines during the
night a nd sets a short time before the first
da wn of the morning becomes perceptible.
Uranus is IN SCofpfO anu Neptune Ill 1 ldurus.
THE METEoRs.
Besides the greater planets. with their
satellites, the minor planets, or asteroids
there are numerous other cosmical bodies
which the sun compels to revolvc about it.
One class of these is the meteors. 1t is
known to eve rybody that occasionally
bodies have fallen and still fall from space
upon the earth.
When this happened at night a ball of
ire could be seen, generally followed
by luminous train. which remained vis-
iblc for a number OF minutes after the
disappearance OF the firc-ball. The phe
nomenon not infrequently resembles sky
rocket. and even a distant roar can be
hea rd. These masses have received
different names. of which those of meteor
ties and aerolites are the most common.
The mass that falls is sometimes sim
gle piece, but oftener consists of many
fragments, consisting sometimes of iron,
but more frequently of stones. II of iron.
1t is to some extent alloyed with nickel.
There are over 200 meteors. which have
alighted and been put in cabinets within
this century, 4 per cent of which are iron
mass es.
OF these, nearly thirty have fallen in the
United States Tie light and the heat OF
meteors are owing to the fact that the We
loCity with which they are swept through
space and which ranges bet tween ten and
forty miles per second is destroyed by the
friction and the resistance OF the atmos-
pbere and the kinetic energy Of the mass
changed into heat, accompanied with light
If, through some gigantic convulsiOn OF
nature, the motion of the earth about the
sun would be arrested for just about one
second, its tremendous kinetic energy would
at once change into heat and the earth be-
come in an instant an incandescent mass
like an immense meteor.
The largest piece of a meteor that has
falloe upon the earth within the ken of
man is a little over quarter OF ton
1t would he difficult to estimate the num-
be of meteors that fall upon the earth with
out being seen. Some estimate the number
as high as 700 year, others at a Tar
greater number
The question concerning the origin of
these meteoric masses is interesting, though
1t has not as yet been answered with en-
tire satisfaction. In former years it was
maintained by some that the meteors were
the products of enormous volcanic erup-
tions, both lunar and terrestrial, but this
theory has been altogether disproved
II is certain that they come from the
depth of space, and that be fore they came
into contact with The atmosphere OF the
earth, they were travelling in elliptic or
parabolic paths around the sun Just as the
planets and comets. Science. however
has not yet ascertained whether in the
past they were hurled from larger plane
tary bodies and from the earth. while it
was yet in gaseous condition.
THE FIXED STAR
Between and 10 O'Clock in the evenings
Of May the Great Bear will be on the me-
ridian. the line connecting the two last
stars on the handle having a northeasterly
direction and pointing out by being suf-
ficienuy prolonged the most magnificent
fixed star in the northern hemisphere
Arcturus, in the constellation BoOtes.
which, at the time mentioned, is pretty
high up In the sky.
The seven familiar stars of the Great
Bear, which form the dipper and it's handle,
are the most conspicuous portion of this
great constellation, but by no means its
largest.
Three of the paws of the monster can
be easily fixed by three similar pairs of
stars, the middle pair being at equal dis
tance from the two outer ones. and all
three lying in a. straight line, parallel to
that which joins Alpha or Dubhe in the
dipper, with Gamma, or Phad, also in the
dipper. Alpha and Beta, the latter also
called Merak. form the Pointer. so called
because the line connecting them and being
produced by four-and-a half times its own
length points out Polaris.
But it does more, for, being produced in
the opposite direction, II also points out one
of the extreme pairs just mentioned as
designa ting the position of the paws The
star Hi, the southern one of this pair, is
remarkable for the fact that it is double
star, forming binary system. the two COM
ponent stars revolving about each other
in sixty-one years, the orbit being the first
one of all binary systems that have been
computed.
j. Another constellation that will be on the
meridian between 8 and 10 O'Clock in the
evening is the large Zodiacal constellation
Virgo. East Of the sickle part of the Lion
there are three stars, forming a conspicu-
ous triangle, which pertains to the same
constellation, and contains Denebola, the
highest star next to Regulus.
If we produce the largest side of that
triangle in a southeasterly direction 1t will
pass through spica, fine star Of the first
magnitude, and the most prominent one In
Virgo. This constellation extends in a
northern and northwestern direction from
Spica, and occupies a rather extensive
space In the heavens. South Of Virgo
wenotice rather conspicuous squadrilateral