Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1897-05-06
The Planets in May.

IBv August Cross. of Slipperyrock
The planets visible in the evening at
the present time are Mercury, Mars,
.Jupiter. Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
OF these Uranus is barely visible to the
naked eve and Neptune l. quite lnvls-
able. but q telescope of very small mag
nifying power will show both OF them
rs brilliant stars.
Mercury sets heliacally on May lOth,
and will not be visible after that date
Venus Is n morning star and Is not at
present an object Of much interest, but
before the end of the month II Will
have attained great brlllancy. Inc
apparent shape Of Venus at this time,
as seen through a telescope. Is that OF
a thin crescent whose ratio Is TO the en-
tire disk of the planet as 3 Is TO 100.
AT the close of the month the ratio VIII
be as - to 100.
Mars is in the constellation Gemini
near the bright stars Castor and PolluX
and will be in very nearly right line
with those objects on the 1lth and 18TH
of the month. Its distance from the
adjacent star which is Pollux will at
that time be about 81 degrees. Pollux.
il will be observed. is of about the same
color and brilliancy as Mars. In the
star catalogues. Pollux is ranked rs OF
magnitude , and Castor II, that Is
PoIlux Is a little less brilliant than an
average star of the first magnitude and
Castor is considerably brighter than Il
second magnitude star.
During the night of May 2Sth Mars
will pass through the northern portion
of the famous nebula PraeSepe. This
nebula is resoIvable by the telescope in
TO an immense number of stars which
are too small to be seen singly. 1t Is
visable to the naked eye, and appears
like a small patch Of mist or milky
light
The distance of Mars from the earth
nj Greenwich noon MAY .th Is compur-
ed 10 be lG5. 2S4 coo miles. which IS
more than four times as far as II gen
erallv is at opposition and II Is conse-
uuently less than one-sixteenth as
bright as it is when seen in that aspect.
Jupiter which Tor some time past has
maintained its station near the staI
Regulus in the constellation Leo, Is
now moving away from that object To-
ward the east. The meridian altitude
of Jupiter is 81 degrees. Its radius rec.
tor for MAY 18th is 1929 millions ol
miles and distance from the earth 4Sl,
2l0 600 miles 1t is now the most con
spicuous object in the evening sky save
| the moon.
Saturn will be in opposition to the
sun on the nth, and Is then at its near
est point TO the earth, but is still at the
enormous distance Of more than So
million of miles. This is great deaI
farther than its average distance at
opposition because it IS now nearly al
its farthest from the sun, and the &c
centricity Of its orbit is 40, GOO, OUi
miles. The nearest that Saturn can
approach to the earth at any time Is
about IA millions Of miles when II Is III
perihelion at It's opposition, and that
will not happen until 1914. Saturn Is
in the constellation Libra and its appar
ent motion Is retrograde. Its rlslne
amplitude is % degrees south OF the
east point and it's meridian attitude Is
| ~ degrees. 1t is not far from the red
star Alpha Scorpii which will be readl-
" distinguished by the circumstances
that it and the stars adjacent to 1t form
the figure of 4 sythe.
Uranus is also in opposition to the
sun on the 18th and is a little more
than two degrees south of Saturn. Al
or near the time of meridian passage
would be the best time to look Iot IT,
and even then it is at an altitude Of but
80 degrees. 1t is on the meridian the
night of the 18th, at 11:45 and min
utes earlier each evening thereafter.
1t is little less than three-quarters of
a degree to the east of the star Kappa
Labrae, which is of the 9Th magnitude
and about twice as bright as Uranus
which appears to the unaided vision as
star of the 9th magnitude. The dis
tance of Uranus on May 18th is 1862
millions of miles.
Neptune is in the constellation Tau
rus and is seven degrees south of the
star Beta Tauri, which is the bright
star in a straight line with Betelgeqse
and Capella, and about midway be
tween them. It may be remarked that
it will be useless to look for Neptune
without the aid OF some optical instru-
ment \ magnifying power OF ten VIII
be sufficient to enable the observer to
see it very distinctly. The distance of
Neptune il. eS+8 millions of miles and
increasing.