Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1897-05-06
SKIES NEXT MONTH.
The suns Points of Rising and Setting
The Position of the Planets The Peou-
liar Nature OF Mercury aud Venus.


liar Nature OF Mercury aud Venus.
baltimore sun.
During the month OF May the moon
will be new on the first and last, in her
| first quarter on the 9th. full on the
| 10th, iu her last quarter OF the 23d.
She will be in apogee ati2 a. M. on the
I'd and ut 6 a. m. on the Goth, and she
will be in perigee at 2 a. m, on the
10th.
Venus will no longer act in the
capacity of evening star. but shine as
morning star. During the earlier
portion of the month sbo will be in
Aries, then pass into Pisces, and
toward the termination Of the month
return to Aries on account OF her retro.
grade notion. Mare. being first in
1emini and later on in Cancer. will
act as an evening star. Jupiter ia still
in Leo at tie short distance of . degrees
from the bright second .magnitude star
Beta in that constellation. During the
hours of the May evanings the royal
planet will be the most brilliant object
in the heavens vyipg in lustre with
Venus, and, in the absence Of the
latter being apt to be confounded with
it. Saturn is in the beautiful summer
constellation Scorpio, while Uranus and
Neptune have but littls shifted their
| position.
Mercury ia distinguished from other
members of the family of planets in
more than one respect. As the nearest
to the sun 1T receives more heat and
light and Ievolyes around the sun more
swiftly than all the other planets in an
orbit which has the greatest eceen-
tricity and the greatest inclination to
the ecliptic, some of the asteroids being
excepted. Again with the exception
OF the asteroids it ia the smallest in
bulk and mass, but possesses greater
density than any other planet. On &C
count of the great eccentricity OF the
orbit OF Mercury its distance from the
sun ranges between 2S, 200, 600 and
AZ, 600, 600 miles, producing pro.
portionate difference in the rate of its
orbital motion. In average it receives
nearly seven times as much light and
heat az the earth, SO that, If inhabited
at all by beings endowed with reason
and intelligence, their physical con.
stitution must be totally different from
that of the human dwellers OF the
earth. That Mercury must pass through
all the phases, new. full, crescent and
gibbous, that we see in the moon must
be evident to everybody. In fact.
when viewed through a telescope it
appears like little moon. If the
nature of the surface of Mercury we
know next to nothing, nor is it certain
whether the planet has an atmosphere
or not LII ii has an atmosphere at all,
il must be very rare. for of the time of
transit across the suns disk no ring
of light surrounds, the disk of the
planet, proving the absence, or at least
the extreme exiguity of atmospheric
refraCtion, and consequently of the
atmosphere itself. Mercury, as well
as Venus, both being inferior planets,
that is such as have their orbits within
that Of the earth will occasionally puss
across the SUMS disk. a phenomenon
called a transit. These transits of
Mercury can take place only in the
months of May and November, the
number Of the November transits being
about twice as great as those in May,
and the intervals OF the occurrence
being 7, Is and l45 years. The last
May transit took place in 1891 aud the
last November transit in 1891. No
more will occur within this century.
The transits of Mercury arc of no
special importance, nor can they be
observed without the aid of telescope
OF all the planets Venus has always
been the most interesting to mankind,
for il Is the evening and morning star
par excellence, and on account of its
hrilliancy never fails to engage the at.
tention of even those who otherwise
evince but feeble interest 10 the OBJ
jects of the nocturnal sky. -...
The transits of Venus are more inter.
esting and have proved more useful
than those of Mercury, since accurate
observations of them have contributed
largely TO the solution Of the all
important problem concerning the de.
termination Of the parallax OF the sun,
upon which the distance of the earth
from the sun depends, and of these OF
all other planets. Such Venus transits
can occur only in the months of Decen.
Der and June at intervals of either and
$50 years. The last December transit
took place in 1882 at intervals Of either
ana 235 years. The next will take
place in june of the year Of 2O0l, aud
another eight years later, so that the
twentieth century will not enjoy this
interesting phenomenon.
The consultations that will be in the
meridian about o'clock in the May
evenings are Ursa Major, Virgo and
the smaller ones of Coryus, Coma Der.
enlce and CAGES Eenatici. Of all tht
! numerous consultations into which the
, chart of the heavens has been divided
, none has played more important part
and none, with perhaps the exception
of Orion, is more easily recognized
than Ursa Major, or the Great Bear
The seven stars, the CONFEDERATION o
, which brings out the contour of {
, colossal dipper, and which forms par
! OF the whole constellation, are familiar
to all.
Virgo is one OF the IL constellation
of the zodiac, and distinguished hutl
by it's size and the first magnitude sta
Spica. This constellation is situated
southeast of Leo, and its principal sta
Spica forms with Dcnebola in Leo AM
: the great star Arcturus in Boates a,
: equilateral triangle. These three star
are too conspicuous to escape the MOTTO
! of the hehoder. Coma Bereuices is
beautiful cluster-liko constellation
northeast of Denebola. II We draw
straight line from the last star in tn
. handle OF the Dipper, called Eta
: towards the southwest it will pas
through small solitary, ruby colorel
star which in England is known by tn
: rame of Cor Carroll, in honor of tn
: hapless king, Charles Stuart. 1t be
!, longs TO the modern constellation Cane
! Nenatici or the Hunting Dogs. Thi
constellation represents the huntin
: dogs OF Bootes while ne is pursuing tn
) Great Bear around the pole.