The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-04-30
Venus viii BE Morning Star,
While Mars Shines at Eve.
PECULIARITIES OF MERCURY
1t Is Probable That This Planet
PASSES Through Phases Similar
TO Those of the Moon-It Transits
and Those of Venus of Great
Interest.

1
quarter on the 9Th, full on the 18th, in he
last quarter ON the 23d She will be il
apogee at 2 a. m. on the 2d and at a
IN. on the 29th, and she will be in perige'
at a. IN on the 10th.
Venus will no longer act in the capacit,
OF evening star, but shine as morning star
During the earlier portion Of the month sh,
will be in Aries, then pass into Pisces
and toward the termination OF the mont
return 10 Aries on account of her retro
| grade motion. Mars, being first in GEM
| I'M and later on in Cancer, will act as al
evening star. Jupiter is still in Leo at the
short distance OF degrees from the bright
1 secoDd-magntudes star Beta in that con-
stellatIcD. During the hours of the May
| evenings the royal planet will he the most
brilliant object in the heavens, vying in
luster with Venus, and, in the absence OF
| the latter, being apt to be COMPOUNDED
1 with it, Saturn is in the beautiful sum-
| mer constellation Scorpio, while Uranus
| and Neptune have but little shifted their
position.
Mercury is distinguished from other
members Of the family of planets in more
| than one respect. AS the nearest to the
sun it receives more heat and light, and
reyolves around the sun more swiftly than
all the other planets in an orbit which ha S
the greatest eccentricity and the greatest
| inclination to the ecliptic, some of the
asteroids being excepted Again, with the
exception of the asteroids, it is tie sn all
est in bulk and mass, but possesses great
|
count of the great eccentTicity of the on
hit Of Mercury it's distance fIom the sun
ranges between 2S zoe coo and 40 ,OOo, 100
miles, producing proportional difference
in the rate Of its orsital motion. In aver
age it receives nearly seven times as mach
tight and heat as the earth, so that, if in
nablted at all by beings endowed with
reason and Intelligence, cir physical con-
siitutiOn must Toe totally different from
that Of the human jewellers of The earth
That Mercury must pass through all the
phases, new. fun, crescent and gibbons,
that we see in the moon, must he evident
to everybody. Ia fact, when view. d
through a telescope it appears like little
moon.
OF the nature Of the surface of Mercury
we know next 10 nothing, nor is ii GER
tain whether the planet has an atmosphere
or not. If il has an atmosphere at all it
must he very rare, foI at the time Of
a transit across the suns disk no ring
of light surrounds the disk of the planet.
proving the absence, or at least the eX-
IRENE eXiguity of atmospheric refraction,
and consequently OF the atmosphere Itself
Mercury, as well as Venus, 10th being in
feriOT planets that is, such as have thr,r
orbits within that OF the earth will occa-
sionally pass across the suns disk, a
phenomenon called a transit These trans
is or Mercury can take place only in the
Months of May and November, the mum
Der Of the November transits being about
twice as great as those in May. and the
Intervals of the occurrence being Z, l3
and l45 years. The last May transit took
place in 1891 and the last November
transit in Ss4 No more will occur within
this century. The transitS of Mercury are
OF no special Importance, not can they he
observed without the aid of telescope.
or all the planets Venus has ALWAYS been
the most interesting to mankind, for it
is the evening and morning star par ex-
ceIlenCe, and on account of its briIliancy
never fails to engage the attention of even
those who otherwise evince tut a feeble
interest in the objects Of the nocturnal!
sky. The transits OF Venus are more inter
esting and have proved more useful than
those of Mercury, since accurate 0bserva-
tons of them have contributed largely
to the solution of the all-important prob
lem concerning the determination OF the
parallax of the sun, upon which the dis
tance of the earth from the sun depends,
and of these of all other planets. Such
Venus transits can occur only in the months
of December and June at interval of either
= and 30 years Thelast DecembertTansit
took place in $50. The next wiIltake place
in June OF the year 2OO4, and another eight
years later, so that the twentieth CEN
tury viii not enjoy this interesting phe-
nomenon.
The consultations that will be in the
meridian about O'Clock in the May even
mgs are UTsa Major, Virgo and the smaller
ones OF Corvus, Coma Berenice and Canes
Venatici. OF all the numerous constclla-
tons into which the chart Of the heavens
has been divided none has played mere
important part, and none, with perhaps the
exception of Orion, is more easily recog-
nized than Ursa Major, or the Great Bear
The seven stars, the configuration OF which
brings out the contour of colossal dippcr,
and which forms q part of the whole con-
stellation, are familiar to all.
Virgo is one OF the twelve considerations
Of the zodiac. aud distinguished both by It's
size and the first magnitude star Spica.
This constellation is situated southeast of
Leo. and its principal star, Spica, forms
with Denebola in Leo and the great star
ArcturuS in Bootes an equilateral triangle.
These three stars are too conspicuous to
escape the notice of the beholGer. Coma
Brenice is a beautiful cluster-like con-
stellation northeast OF Denebola. II we
draw a straight line from the last star in
the handle OF the Dipper, called Eta, to-
wards the southwest, it will pass through n
small, solitary. ruby-colored star which in
England is known by the name of Cor Ca
roll. in honor of the hapless king. Charles
Stuart. II belongs to the modern constel.
lation Canes Veuatici or the Hunting Dogs
This constellation represents the hunting
dogs of BOotes while he is pursuing the
Great Bear around the pole.
At the middle of the month of May the
beautiful consultations Orion, Taurus ami
CAMS Major have set, while Vega is just
rising in the northeast. Also Hercules |
and Corona Borealis (the Northern CROWN
may be seen low down in the east be- |
tween Vega and Arcturus by their rising |
Ina the earlier hours of the evening, an
the approach of summer. In |
the southeast another beautiful summer |
is looming up, whose rising |
IS another harbinger of summer. This is !
Scorpio, which later on will present one |
Of the finest star pictures in the celestial |
vault.