Evening journal., 1898-08-30
THE SEPTEMBER SKIES
Numerous Beautiful Objects In
the Western Sky
VENUS AND JUPITER ARE BRIGHT


TIVE BRIGHTNESS INTEREST
ING FACTS ABOUT TWO CON
srEILATHONs INDICATING THE
CLOSE OF SUMMER AND THE
COMING OF AUTUMN.
In the course CT the month CT Sep
tember the moon win pass through the
following phases, says the Baltimore
Sun: She will be in her last quarter
ON the 7th, new on the 18TH, in her
first quarter on the 22d, and full on
the 29th. Her apogee will occur on the
9th, at 4.S6 p. m, and her perigee ex-
actly at midnight from the oath to the
25th. A singular coincidence consists
in the fact that all the above phases
and both ap0gee and perigee take place
in the afternoon.
On the first OF September the sun win
be s degrees, IL minutes, 16 seconds
north Of the equator, which it Will
reach exactly at 7.S5 p. m. on the 22d.
ushering in the season OF Autumn. The
sun at that moment will enter the sign
Of Libra, but in consequence OF the
procession of the equlnoxes be in the
constellation Of Virgo. AT the end OF
the month it will he very nearly de-
graes south of the equator, thus pass
ing in course Of the month an arc OF
over IL degrees in decanation.
The planet Mercury will he in the
constellation Leo during the whole OK
tent OF the month of September, and
may be seen by means OF a telescope as
an evening star during the latter por-
ten of the month. The time of the
completion Of am orbital motion Of Mer-
curry, or, to make use OF a technical
expression, it's periodic time. is vsry
nearly three months. 1t may. there
fore, appear puzzlfng to one or the
other reader that such a swift Traveller
as Mercury, which in one year passes
through the twelve of the zodiaca
considerations, should linger for Z
whole month in the same constellation
A little thinking. however, will make
such possibility quite clear. Mercury
ais we'll as amy of the inferior planets
when 1t is at superior conjunction viii
appear TO move in its direct, that is
true direction, until it arrives at it
eastern elongation. Since in that po
sition it will for a short time trave
toward the earth, it win appear to 10
stationary, and then appear to move
not from right to left, but from ,ef
to right, or, to use again a technica
term, to retrcgrade until It reaches 10
utmost western elongation. In this po
sitiOn ii will ag8in appear stationary
since for a little while It Will trave
from the earth. The difference which
in this case the earth's motion pro
duces, the latter being always the sam
as the planets, is that the time he
twesnl Two successive oonjunctiOns o
elongations is somewhat lengtheuei.
VENUS AND JUPITER.
Venus will be in Virgo during tn
first portion of the month, then pas
into Libra, and toward the end ente
ScOrpio. 1t will act as an evening sta
during the whole month, shining unit
some time after Z O'Clock. Jupite
reached his closest proximity to Venu
on the 10Th of August. but is separat
ing from her more and more For som
time these Two planets have been, am
for this month win be, two beautifu
objects in the western sky, the more s
as they have been so close to eac
other. Jupiter viii set a little earle
than Venus-at ahe beginning OF tn
month little after O'Clock. and at +;
end few minutes past 7-but since tn
nights growing longer we may see bot
planets as evening stars for some tim
after nighDfa1 On the first CT tn
month Venus viii be only a little NOR
than 2 degrees from Spica, the bright
est start in the constellation Virgo, an
ais the distance Of Venus from Jupite
will be about 13degrees and 51a degree
The shape Of this triangle, Of ooursl
j will undergo a considerable change i
course of the mobth. The planet Msr
is in Gemini. In the first part of tn
month it will rise a little before mid
night, but toward she end about III
O'Clock, rendering that intrinsicaG
bright constellation still brighter b
her presence. He will set about
O'Clock.
Many parsons that may be tolerSlb,
familiar with the distances of III
planets from the great luminary th
sun, expressed in such round number
as can easily be retained by the mem
ory, become in not a few instances ct
= livious of the fact lhat these distance.
do not apply to the earth. As 10 th
p very remote planets. ais Neptunls, Venm
Saturn and even Jupiter the distanc
Of the earth from the sun doris NJ
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