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

(Bv 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 Is quite lnyls-
able but telescope of very small mag
nifying power viii show both of them
as brilliant stars.
Mercury sets heliacally on May 10th,
and will not be visible after that date.
Venus is a morning star and Is not at
present an object of much interest, but
before the end of the month 1t Will
have attained great brilliancy. The
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 Is to 100.
At the close of the month the ratio VIII
be as 24 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 llth 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 as of
magnitude / = and Castor IL. that Is
Pollux is a little less brilliant than an
average star of the first magnitude and
Castor is considerably brighter than a
second magnitude star.
During the night of May 2Sth Mars
will pass through the northern portion
of the famous nebula PraeSepe. This
nebula is resolvable 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
at Greenwich noon May 18th is comput-
ed to be 1Gj, 2S4, coo miles, which Is
more than four times as far as 1t gen
orally is at opposition and 1t Is conse-
auently less than one-sixteenth as
bright as it is when seen in that aspect.
Jupiter which FOR some time past has
maintained its station near the star
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 Nav 18th is j02. millions Of
miles and distance from the earth 4Sl,-
210, 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 10 the earth, but Is still at the
enormous distance of more than $50
million of miles This is great deal
farther than its average distance at
opposition because 1t is now nearly at
its farthest from the sun, and the &c
centricity Of its orbit is 49,6OO, eco
miles. The nearest that Saturn can
approach to the earth at any time Is
about IA millions of miles when 1t 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 rising
amplitude is % degrees south OF the
east point and it's meridian altitude IS
81 degrees 1t is not far from the red
star Alpine 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 little more
than two degrees south of Saturn. At
or near the time of meridian passage
WOulU DE Int DtsI tlllit 10 ipOh IoA ~
and even then it is at an altitude OF but
80 degrees. 1t is on the meridian the
night of the 18th, at II 40 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 1852
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 Betelgeuse
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 will
be sufficient to enable the observer to
see it very distinctly. The distance of
Neptune il e648 millions of miles and
increasing.