The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-12
IN DECEMBER.
How the Skies Will Look
This Month.
(From the Baltimore SUM

of December Will be as follows. Last
o,arter an +ba 9Th new on the 18th,
-o.,. "a e,,i, ~,
Ilfst quarter on tne I9Ih anu Iu'i
the 9th. She will be in 1poSee on the
I'd and in neripee on the 14th and 18th.
M, - ,tt A.. r,,s+ of tbe
nv sun ""iOH vi 'ii0 80.
month is but IL degrees ulStsHt ION
the extreme southern limit ms ueCltI-
alton can attain, WIZ reach me WIZ
solstice on the list, ana from lH"I
slowly turn northWard again. Ou t,le
arctic circle the sun VIII loucn w
horizon on Jhat day, put not RISE "llllV
on the antarctic circle he viii not SET
presenting then the Impressive spetIa-
Gle OF the midnight sun Inc REGIONS
norm OF the afcCc circle Will ne WlabI
up IN darkness ana remain SO ulltu
the sun on his return trip reaches ne
equator, while south of the antarcuc
circle conditions VIII be reversed;
The planet Mercury VIII be IN Saglt-
tarius most of December. Whue venus
VIII 1nger in the constellation Scofplo
during the month, and begin TO shlhe
again as morning star Jnoush by no
means being in favorable posltloh
Tor observation. Mars IS III cancer
SHINING as an evening star tnouSh ~
present ms brightness IS hafuly greater
imam that OF a second magnitude slat'
pelng IN TINS respect outstr'pped by Ihe
numerous hrst magnitude stars that
now adorn the evening skies. Jupiter
is IN virgo, acting, like Venus, as
morning star. The great planet rises
between and 3 O'Clock in the morning
ana may be seen in the eastern SKIES,
SHINING with his Inherent lustre until
II mas to yield to the superior hgnt
OF the rising sun. Saturn is still IN
9cofplo ana invisible during the noe
turnal hours.
In course Of December two ecEpses
VIII take place partial solar eclipse
on the 18th, not visible in our latitude,
and total lunar eclipse ON the 2fth,
visible here. She will rise very nearly
D o'clock p. M, eclipsed, the eclipse las
ung about an hour and half. This
year mas been much favored by ecllpses,
as at It's termination six will have tax
en- place in its course The least pos
sible number of eclipses during the
period OF one year is two. and in this
case they must both be central Aclipses
OF the sun, while the largest number
possible is seven, five of these being
solar and two lunar. For reasons into
which we cannot enter here, as dis
cusslon OF this subject would require
more space than is at our disposal two
solar eclipses must occur with abso-
lutte certainty within one year, while
a whole year may pass without the
| occurrence of solitary eclipse of the
moon. Three lunar eclipses in one
year are of very rare occurrence. and
possible only under particular clrcum-
stances and conditions.
The first eclipse in this case must
happen near the first day OF the year.
II. then, a second eclipse occur on June
%, the third must take place in the
latter part Of December Since the year
1887 such a thing has not occurred.
There prevails the erroneous impress
sion that total eclipses of the sun are
of rare occurrence. In average ten VIII
happen in is years, but they certainly
are rare for any given place, since the
track of the shadow is less than 100
miles wide At any given place one 90
tai solar eclipse will occur in average
every $50 years. The next total
eclipse of the sun that will be visible
within the boundary lines Of the United
States viii take place on May q, 1900
1t will be visible from Louisiana to
Virginia, and the totality will last two
minutes
Another wrong idea seems to have
taken a tenacious hold of the minds
of many persons namely that the
proper motion Of the sun must affect
the relative position of sun and plan
cts. 1t has been demonstrated conclu-
sively that the sun moves through
space in the direction of the constel-
lation Hercules.
In former articles the reasons have
been mentioned why there is such A
motion in such a direction, though it is
hardly yet possible to establish the
rate of this motion with the accuracy
with which the motions of the nIanets
have been determined. We find Or
casionally the statement that the sun
moves at the rate of 16 miles per sec
ond. but such statements roust he 70
ceived with some caution. Re this
however as it NAV. one thing is GER
tain namely. that the sun moves through
space at a great rate. carrying all The
planets. satellites and other cosnaica1
bodies along with il. This motion of
our great luminarv of course a ffects-
the real motion of the planets in snace
but does not in the slightest degree AFT
feet the relative motion of slIn and
planets. 1t causes no little nernlextiv
to some that fine sun's marian which
unouestionably and indisnufablv is ex-
trenelv cuiclt docs NOT cbapea tto
relative position of the solar system to
the fixed stars and The consfaIIations
more than If actually does
There are even A few that on this ac-
count are inclined 10 doubt tbe actual
motion of the sun in snace These FOR
get. or rather do not realize tbat
even under the suppositfon of So great
a rate as Is miles in one second The rel
ative position of the sun TO the fixed
stars would be hardly percentible in a
century on account of the almost in
conceivable distances of The latter If
win take MANY hundreds nav many
thousands of years before the SIMS
proper. motion in SPACE will change tha
CONGREGATIONS of the star groups' From
descriptions Of many eonstellations
given by men who lived long before tbe
beginning of the Christian era we can
draw but the one conclusion That
any changes in these confgurations