The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-06
THE AUGUST HEAVENS.

Position of the Planets and stars Dur
 ing This Acknowledgement Meteors
 Promised.
 Tho moon passes the several planets this month In the following order: 11th, Mars; 18th, Neptune 18th Mercu- ny; 21st, Jupiter and Venus; 2ith, uran- usi 25th, saturn, It runs highest on the 10th, near last quarter, and lowest on the 25th, near first quarter,
 Venus is beyond dispute the most in- teresting of the planets, as far as it's appearance to the unaided eye Is con- cerned. In these summer evenings 1t gives especial beauty to the western heavens, shining brilliantly after sun set until it also sinks below the horizon. Its motion is in the consultations Leo and Virgo. It increases in brightness over thirty per cent, during the month, while in the telescope it's shape alters like the slowly waning moon. On the 18th it passes near the planet Jupiter, and on the S0th it is less than one de- gree distant from the star Spica, which it greatly outshines.
 Mercury may be seen are first half of the month in the early evening, It is only one-half as brilliant as it is at some times, but it can be seen about half an hour or little later after sun set between Venus and the horizon. It reaches it's greatest distance from the sun on the 9th. On the 22d 1t seases to move eastward among the stars and turns westward.
 The Lonely Planet.
 The planet Neptune slowly pursues it's lonely orbit in the constellation Tau rus, rising on the 1st at 1:10 a. m. The planet Mars, moving more rapidly east ward, passes it on the 24th. On the 1st the right ascension of Neptune Is h. 34 min, and its declination N. 22 degrees minute
 Jupiter has been drawing towards the west in the evening for many weeks and is now nearing the twilight limit. As 1t approaches the sun it Is passed by it's more brilliant rival Venus, which overtakes it, both moving eastward The two planets are nearest on the 18th
 
 Jupiter is the northern of the two and the fainter. Jupiter is visible for sc short time in the evening that the movements of it's satellites are not of special interest.
 Saturn rises in the daytime and is not far from the meridian at sunset. It is visible the early part of the night ir the southwestern part of the sky. It is the conspicuous star north of the con- stellation Scorpio and is well contrasted with the red star Antares. which is six degrees south of 1t. It's history, as studied from the earth, is marked this month by two eyents-its becoming stationary in it's westward motion and among the stars, and it's reaching quadrature with regard to the sun. The former event occurs on the 9th and the latter on the 29th.
 Position of Uranus
 Uranus ceases to move westward and begins it's eastward advance on the Sth, and it is in quadrature with the sun, or distant ninety degrees from it, on the 22d. It is in the extreme eastern part Ol tile COHSlelldtlull blDTd ledf lilG boundry of Scorpio. It cannot be seen without the aid of telescope
 The Mars is not yet specially conspic- uous, but this month marke it's en- trance into the evening sky. It rose on the 1st ten minutes after midnight, and will rise on the 31st thirty-six minutes before midnight. It s in the constella- tion Taurus and may be compared with the star Aldebaran of that group which it resembles very much in color, and at this time in brightness also Mars Is north of Aldebaran. It is in- creasing slowly in brilliancy.
 Frequent meteors will be seen the early half of the month, and will be most numerous about the 10th, They are near the path of comet which was seen in 1862, and which revolves in a period of one hundred and twenty-fou, years. The meteors are scattered along the whole path with considerable uni formity, so that the number seen in diff ferent years is about the same. The belt, however, is very wide, as some meteors are encountered each evening between the middle of July and the middle of August. The meteors are | usually brilliant and come from the di, rection of the constellation Perseus, SC | that they are often called Perseids. | KNIGHTS TFMPLAR CONCLAVE