Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-09-01
THE SKIES DURING September
Planets Stationary Position
and Retrograde Motion.
VENUS AND JUPITER BRILLIANT
Beautiful Objects Will be Seen
In the West.
Distance OF Planes. From the Earth-some
IHssrssliDs Facts About Two constrl'a-
tisas. Iadieatin< the Close Of summer
and the commencement of Autumn.

tisas. Indicating the Close Of summer
and the Cotssmenesmsnt of Autumn
Baltimore saa-
In the course of the month OF Septem-
Der the moon will pass through the fol-
lowing phases: 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 10Th. Her apogee will occur on the
| 9Th, at 4.36 p. m, and her perigee exactly
at midnight from the 24th 10 the 25th. A
/ singular coincidence consists in the fsc:
that all the above phases and both apogee
| aud perigee take place in the afternoon.
| On the 1st of September the sun will be
s degrees II minutes IL seconds north OF
| the equator, which it will reach exactly
at 7.35 D. m. on the 22d, ushering in the
season of autumn. The SUI at that
moment will enter the sign Of Libra, but
| in consequences of the procession OF the
| equinoxes be in the constellation OF
\ Virgo. At the end of the month it will |
be very nearly 8 degrees soeth OF the
equator, thus passing in course Of the
month an arc Of over ii degree in declina-
ton.
The planet Mercury will be in the con-
stellatlon Leo during the whole extent of
the month Of September. and may be seen |
BY means of a telescope as an evening star
during the latter portion of the month. |
The time Of the completion of an orbital |
motion of Mercury, or, TO make use uf a |
technical expression, Its periodic time, Is |
very nearly three months. IL may. there |
fore. appear puzzling to one or the other |
reader that such a swift traveller as hler- |
curry, which in one year passes through |
the IL Of the zDdIacal consultations,
should linger for whole month in the
some constellation. A little thinking how
ever, will make such possibility quite
clear. Mercury, As well as any of the in
feri0r planets, when it is at superior con-
junction will appear ~ move in its direct.
that is, true direction, until II arrives at
its eastern elongation. Since in that posi-
ton il will for q short time travel toward
the earth, IL will appear to be stationary,
AMI then appear TO move, not from right
to left, but from left 30 right, or, to use
again technical term, to retrogade until
Ii reaches its utmost western elongation.
Ia this position it will again appear sta
tionary, since for little while it will
travel from the earth. The difference
which in this case The earth's motion pro-
duces, the latter being always the same
as the planets, is that the time between
two successive conjunctions or slonga-
.. tiuns Is somewhat heightened
Venus will be in Virgo during the first
!. portion of the month, then pass into
Libra, and toward the end enter Scorpio.
! 1t will act as an evening star during the
whole month, shining until some time
after Z o'clock. Jupiter reached his
closest proximity to Venus on the 10th
OF August, but is separating from her
! more and more. For some time these
I two planets have been, and for this
Z month will be, two beautiful objects in
9 the western sky, the more so as they have
7 been SO close TO each other. Jupiter will
set little earlier than Venus--at the be-
!. ginning of the month little after 8
: O'Clock, and a. its end few minutes past
Z 7-but since the nights are gro wing
logger we may sec both planets IS even
u ing stars for some time after nightfall.
o On the first of the month Venus will be
q only LITTLE more than two degrees from
Spica, the brightest star in the constella-
D tim Virgo, and as the distance of Venus
from Jupiter will be but 13 degrees, these
g two planets and Spica will form bright
% triangle, the sides Of which are 2 degrees,
10 10 degrees and 81 degrees. The shape
It of this triangle, of course, will under.
go considerable change In course
st of the month. The planet Mari
ID Is in Gemini. In the first part of the
{. month it will rise little before midnight
% but toward the end about LIS O'Clock
Is Saturn is still lingering ia Scorpio, rem
ar deriDg that intrinsically bright constella
81 ton still brighter by her presence. ii,
10 will set about 8 o'clock.
0 Many persons that may be tolerably
1s familiar with the distances OF the planets
It from the great luminary, the sun, ex
s. pressed in such round numbers az car
easily be retained by the memory, becom,
a. in not few instances oblivious of tht
d. fact that these distances do not apply L
'. the earth. As to the very remote planets
I'd a. Neptune, Venus, Saturn and ever
N Jupiter, the distance Of the earth from til,
sun does not make So much difference
O. but it is otherwise with the so-caIIed ter
as restrial planets, Mars, Venus aud Mer
curry. When an inferior planet, Xix
i'll Venus and Mercury, is in inferior con
er junction Its distance from the earth i
To- equal to the distance of the earth fron
the sun diminished by she planets dis
I'd lance from the sun, while at superior con
,m junction its distance from the earth
as equal to the solar distance of the cart
increased by the planets distance froE
nd the sun. The difference of the maximum
D. and minimum distance of such plane
from the earth is consequently very cor
me siderable. The brightness of a plane
Try depends both upon It's distance and some
thth6 CAoSs - - hAuC tnhb1 AOt iu6tdnNt
of Venus is full when at superior conjunc
ch ton, but Its greater distance from ID
o. earth in that position detracts somewhi
1t from its brightness. When an inferiC
conjunction II is indeed nearest the cart
,s. but so very crescent as TO leave bat
,en small part Of the disk illuminated. III
greatest brightness this planet attains
z's therefore, In an intermediate position
zen that is, at an elongation If about 80 deg
M when It presents q phase like that Of Il
moon about five days old. Venus is the
so bright as to cast perceptible shade
and may then be seen by day even vii
the the naked eye 1t Is in place here to r
ain mark that no other celestial body al
the proaches the earth 50 closely as Veni
the with the exception Of the moon. al
10 occasionally a comet. The reader mu
: TO not forget that planets aphelion ar
il perihelion have something TO do with
old brightness, 100, which becomes especial
apparent in the case of Mars, the brlgh
ness of which ranges between that Of
second magnitude star and that of king
ia Jupiter himself. In the month of Augu
ted Of the year 1909 Mars will shine with Il
ka- greatest brillisncy 1t can attain.
nth The following are the principal co
and stellations that will be in the meridi
on about 8 O'Clock in the September eve
ings: Cygnus, Capricornas and ID,
phinus.> Cygnus, or the Swan, is quite