The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1897-10-07

IN NNy They are rather
NFIkE NJ low down for the
NVMsswE most favorable OBJ
~ MY servation; but next
,..R~-A~ i~xaA year they Will be
situated still more unfavorably, n IN
cr~easingly so for several years to fol-
low.
Saturn is easily recognized, being by
far the most conspicuous object IN
thatpart Of the heavens-a few de-
grees northwest of the head OF Scor-
pio. At nine o'clock on June Gath
it is still a little east Of the
meridian, about a third Of the way
from the horizon to the zenith in a
comparatively s~tarless region. 1t
shines with a steady, pale, yellowish
light, in striking contrast with the
red Antares, which wrinkles and blazes
like a wipdblown fame some fifteen
degrees to the southeast.
Our readers hardly need to be tol'
that Saturn is an immense globe
weighing nearly a hundred times as
much as the earth, and yet in den
sity" lighter thar water; far less dense
than any other of the whole planetary
family, and apparently covered with a
thick envelope Of cloud.
Then, too, in the telescope it Is the
most beautiful of all because of the
splendid encircling rings, which, as
has been long believed, and as we now
know certainly-thanks to the spectre
scopic observations of Professor Keel
er-are only focks of little "moonlets"
which run swiftly side by side around
the planet, each keeping in its own
regular circle for the most part, I'M
iostled and unjostling.
Just how small they are no one
knows as yet, but the whole array is
hardly as heavy as a smoke-wreath.
Strive says the rings are as near to
"immaterial light" as one can well
conceive. drawing this conclusion from
the extremely slight effect which they
produce on the motion of the little
satellite Mimas, which coasts, almost
undisturbed, around their outer edge
Uranus is as unobtrusive as Saturn is
conspicuous; just easily visible to
normal eye, but without a telescope in
nc way distinguishable from the little
stars around it except by its motion
and that is so slow that it is only tt
be detected by watching for a weel
or two. Just now, however, Uranu:
happens to be situated that one
can find it easily. On June 24tf
it lies about two degrees south
Of Saturn, and slightly to The
east, a little above the line tina
joins the fifth magnitude star, Kapps
Librae, to the smaller star, Al Librae
which is about three-quarters of a de
gree northwest of Kappa. Uranus Il
much nearer to Al, almost due cas-
from it, and very nearly of the sam
brightness. If there is any haziness IL
the air, an opera-glass may be needed
TO make the planet visible, and in an.
case it will be a great help. On Jul,
first Uranus will pass very close to 4
(cnly about a minute and a quarter t.
the north), sc that to the naked ey
they will appear as a single star, a
bright as Kappa. 1t Is seldom that tn
planet has such excellent markers
to indicate it's position for non-tele
scopic observers.
Uranus is notable as the first plane
ever "d%iscovered;" all that were know
when Herschel found 1t, in 1881, ha,
been known from prehistoric antiquity
1t seems so small and faint only be
cause it is so far away from us an
from the sun, at a distance exceeding
seventeen hundred millions Of miles
twice as remote as Saturn. It's glob
is smaller than his, being only abou
four times the diameter of the earth
nor has it rings like his, nor such
%retinue of satellites-only four a
against his eight. Still it is a YER,
respectable body, with fifteen times a
great a mass. or weight, as the earth