The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-01
THE DECEMBER SKIES.

" Aeal IHSle Y" III De OH SHOW Inere. The great events of the month are the passing of Venus from the evening to the morning realm of stars the eclipse of the sun on the 12th and of the noon on the 27th, and the beginning of astronomical winter on the Fist While all of these events are not visible to the undraped optic, some of them are, and these will be of sufficient interest to prove very decided drawing card at the opening of the winter season.
 The sun enters the sign Capricornus on the Fist and begins his journeys north, which requires three months to accomplish before he reaches the half way station on the line of march," At the time of touching the utmost limits of southern declination the days are of their minimum length and the shadow of night no longer encroaches upon the light of day. The path of the winter sun lies now in the heavens, the short days hasten gloomily to their close the sable pail of night falls dark ly over the earth, and feeling of des- olation mingles with sorrow over the receding light. But it is only for a little while that the sun seems to stand still in his course. A change soon comes a minute is added to the shortest day.
 The first precious minute of sunlight is the hamburger of physical life the sign in the heavens that the laws that sway in the universe will not fail, the first trophy in the combat between light and darkness. The change, invisible at first, is detected in a few days by faint lingering in the glow of twilight, and in
 f61fy 1o1 +lo,, se,
 doubt-the sun has turned his smiling face northward, the days have per ceptibly heightened. When December closes three minutes have been added to the days length, and, when the last af- ternoon of the year passes, the earth, in perihelion, is 3,000,000 miles nearer the sun than in July, and the great day star, in nearest vicinity is mildly tenn
 pering the winters cold for the inhabi- tants of the north temperatate zone. The star-lit December sky is superb, for it is graced by the most beautiful stars and constellations that are ever seen by mortal eyes, and when the December full moon turns high" the celestial picture is ennobling and uplifting. Ev- cry observer whose soul is in harmony with the grand spectacle spread out above will pay tribute till the scene in the eloquent words of the ancient He
 brew prophet; Seek Him that maketh the Seven Stars and Orion and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night" It is at this season that we find Sirius, the dog star, and Aldebaran pointing to the reckless Pleidades, well above them in the heavens. Beneath them hangs Orion, which gorgeous constellation never burns more vividly than at pres
 ent, as it swings itself forth above the rim of the landscape. The famous
 Twins, Castor and Pollux, almost rest on the horizon, the square of Pegasus is in the northwest, while lamp suspend ed amid leafiess trees and shows us the
 way to where the chair of Cassiopela
 stands daintily poised.
 We have already spoken of the eclipse of the sun that occurs on the 18th, and
 perhaps have induced the idea that we are to be permitted to see it. Such,
 however is not the case, as it is only
 to be disclosed to the sparsely settled
 portion of the extreme southern end of
 South America and to the inhabitants of the groups of islands that dot the
 !
 ly acquired portion of our country in
 the Sandwich Islands is not favored. It
 is what is known as a partial eclipse,
 and it embraces but a small portion of
 thesu's disk. The moon is much more gracious than this in the way she treats us on the 27th. On that date she is in
 total eclipse, and the phenomenon will
 be generally visible throughout North
 and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The deep shadow in which the moon will be engulfed on that date has a diameter that is more than a third
 larger than that of the moon itself.
 From the time the moon enters the
 outer shadow until it emerges once more, clear and bright, a period of
 more than six hours will have elapsed,
 while the total eclipse will last fully an hour and a half. We now know
 enough of the movements of the heav-
 enly bodies to be able to place the date
 of the full moon for December, as there can only be an eclipse of the nature re-
 ferred to when the moon is at the full | So here We have the last full moon of ! the year on the Eth, and most bright