The evening times., 1896-10-30
BRIGHT STARS IN THE SKY
Mercury Will Be the First
Seen in the West.
MARS FORMS A TRIANGLE
During November the Planets VIII
BE Very Beautiful to the OBJ
server-The Superior Ones Are
Encircled by Moons-The Laplace
TheOry-PrOcession of EquinOxes.

! Mercury will be the 'star" attraction of
the November skies.
The planet Mercury will successfully pass
through the three consultations Virgo,
Libra and Scorpio. Venus will beIn Scorpio
during the greater part OF the month and in
| Sagittarius toward the end.
Before, in any cluudless evening, any
other star becomes visible and n considera bic
time before the termination OF the evening
7 twilight this brilliant planet cannot fail to
| engagetheattentiono of an body ythat happens
tolooktoward tn e wester II horizon with eyes
that are capable of receiving impressions
of objects OF beauty.
Mars is in Taurus, forming with Aide.
baran and Capella a triangle of singular
beauty, enhanced by the intensely red color
OF the planet. Jupiter is in Leo and will
not adorn the evening sky. Saturn is in
Scorpio and invisible at any hour of the
hight.
Uranus, though not visible with the naked
eye, is quite close to Saturn. at about the
same distance from it as Neptune from
Mars. Viewed through telescope this
planetary cOnfisuration would present a
very beautiful and impressive picture.
Besides the earth all the So called superior
planets, with the exception Of the asteroids,
are encircled by mOons-Mars by two very
small ones, Jupiter by five, one OF which.
however, being extremely diminutive and
.
which, with the three rings, form with their
primary wonderful system OF their own
within the larger system OF the sun;
Uranus by four and Neptune by one, though
there is Possibility that powerful tele-
scopes may yet add others to their most
distant members Of our solar system.
THE NEBULAR THEORY.
When the famous French astronomer La;
place, published his exceedingly ingenious
iN,I.
which all the matter existing in the solar
system were originally one treme mendous
mass Of incandeScent gas, which. under the
action OF its own gravitation. assumed
spherical form, with rotatOry motion on
its axis, in consequence of tie increasing
acceleration of which rings would be
thrown ofs that again assumed a globula
shape, thus giving rise 10 the generation
Of planets, and, in case the latter threw
off similar rings, to that of satellites il
was received with such admiration as only
really great thought or action can call
forth.
1t is beyond the limits of a newspaper
article To enter into all those details
and reasons which lend to the truth OF
that famous theory degree OF probability
that verges on certainty. one of these
reasons : ~ plain and simple, however,
that il must be mentioned.
All the planets revoIve about the sun
in one direction, viz from west to east
and likewise the moons OF Mars, Jupiter,
and Saturn revolve about their respective
primaries in the same direction. This CO.
incidence was certainly strong argum ent
in favor OF the truth of the nebnlar hy-
pothesis, but when IL was discovered that
the four satellites OF Uranus and the one
or Neptune move in an opposite direction
the faith in the truth of that theory was
naturally shaken to some extent.
In fact, it has been said that If it great
author had been cognizant OF this retro.
grade motion of these satellites he would
probably have abandoned his theory But,
after all, the motions of these five satel-
lites are not altogether SO oppo scd to it as
might at first sight be supposed As 4
general rule, satellites move nearly in
the equatorial planes of the planets to
which they pertain, and these planes have
various inclinaIinns 10 the eclintic