The evening times., 1898-01-01
BEAUTY Or JANUARY SKIES.
Consultations to Be Watched Dur
ing fbA Month.

ing the Month.
OF the Six eclips,s, three solar and three
lunar, that will take place in course OF
the year 1898, one of each kind Will &C.
cur in the month Of January: the lunar Cri
January and the solar on January Il.
the former being Visible i'm the ca stern por-
tion OF smeTiea, tire latter invisible any
where on this c0fitine mt. The lunar
eclipfe will be partial, tfe solar total.
lunar eclipse occurs when the moon en-
ters the shadow OF TIE earth, consequently
at the time Of fun moon when she Is IN
opposition; whilst soar eonI:e can oniy
take plac ce at the time OF new noon-fhat
is when she is between the earth aud the
sun.
The pu;nts of intersection Of the MOO i's
orbit In her revolution about the earth
viii, th. rcIiptic are callei the nodes. IT.,
new, the moon happens to be near oIe OF
her nodes at the time of fuI moon, she VIII
enter the eart,i's shadow aud be eciipsed.
Since the orbit of the moon is inclined a
mttie more than 8 degrees TO the plane "f
the ecliptic, lunar eclipse cannot oc-
Gu. as frequentl' as the reader might sup
pose at most three times year, aud that
extremely seldom. Solar eclipses, how
given place, for the reason that a solar
eclipse is seen only from limited portion
of the surface OF the earth, waeras lunar
eclipse is visible over more than half Of lie
earth's surface.
on January the sun will be very nearly
23 G.gi ees, and On the last a little more
than Il degrees Il min utes south of the
equator, thus traversing an area Of } te-
: a
therefore, is grad ua lily approaching the equa
tor, but by ne means with uniform mo
tinn, and its rising and setting points on
any horizon are approaching the true east
ami west points, respectively. on the ist
il rises a little over 80 degrees south or
the true east, a nj pn the last about - IL
degrees, SO that its motion on the horizon
during the month is about IL degrees
The planets m ust always he looked for IN
the twelve consultations or the ZOdiaci
that belt across the heavens in which, he-
sides the planets, the sun and moon move
and thus roughly mark the ecliptic
Mercury will linger In the constellation
Sagittarius during the month This planet
is 50 near the SUI that 1t is difficult 10
catch a glimpse of it with the naked eye,
even under favorable circumstances.
Venus will also he in Sagittarius during
the first pUItian of the month but pass to-
ward the end into the constellation Csprl-
cUrnuS. This beautiful planet will not yet
adorn our evening skies. but may he seen
by early risers abnve the eastern horizon.
Mars also Will he in Sa agittarius, while the
great planet, Jupiter. is in Virgo. In con
sequence uf its long period Jupiter moves
across the heavens at slow rate, In aver
age through. the length Of Zodiacal con
stellatior, ir course OF a year.
The planet Saturn is IN Scorpio, ana
viii not rise tsfor% 6 O'Clock a. m The
planet Uranus is likewise i'll Scorpio, but,
Oh accouptof its enormous distance from ns,
can hc seen only as 4 star Of the slNth
ma agnitude, the limit Df those visible
without the all Of magrifying lenses
Revolving about the sun once I'm eighty
fuur years, the motion Of Uranus q mong
the considerations is very slow. Neptune,
whose orbit marks the boundary OF our
solar system, is at present I'm the fine
constellation OF Taurus, but Its enormous
distance uf Ecarly 3, 900, 100000 miles
makes it appear - "a star Of only the
ninth ma gnit tide, thus precluding the pos
sibihty of It's icing seen without tele
sun in l64 Years, 50 that its motion q mong
the stars IL exceedingly slow 80 slow
in fact. tFat up t. tie discovery of it,
planetary nature, in ls45, il had been
considered fixed star. II during the
evening hours ~ the month Of January the
planetarv aspect of he hea venS is not favor
able, the siicral panorama that presents
itself in cloudless night is the more
beautiful.
The cnnstella tfon that will he near or On
the meridian 1T about 8 O'Clock in the
January eve ihgs are Taurus. Orion, Lupus,
Auriza ana Eridanus Taurus, or the
Bull. is EASILY recognized by the two re-
marEable star groups-the Pleiades AMI
he Hyades. The stars OF the Pleiades are
very closely grouped together. and only
six of them can lie seen hy fairly good
eve without the aid Of magpifyiDg gla s.
but viewed with a telescope the number
OF stars ia the group ls considerably IL
creased ',h, brightest OF them is Eta
Tauri. or Alegone, OF which hahler though
erroneCusiy, asserted that ii was the cen
tral sun about which our whole solar sys
TEN rev olyed.
In n southeastcTly direction from the
Pleiades th e observer cannot fail to notice
five stars that form ysEaped figure
the HS2,es TIE brightest of themiS Alpha
Tauri, or AIGeharap, the most promm ent
member Of the Whole constellation. The
second brightest star in it lies in nortE-
east direction from the Hyad IS and is
called Bette, OF FL Nath Southeast of
Taurus VIC behold the most magnificent
of all Il considerations in the heavens
whoever bis seen Orion once wiilnot like
ly forget il. Its beauty has been sung by
more than one aICi ent poet, and il is GER
tainly Impressive enough 20 elicit the ad
miratiur even of such as are not specially
endowed with q sense OF tue sublime and
the beautiful. Tue shoulders of the giant
are marked lay the red first magnitud ude,
star Alpha, or Betclgeuse, and the bright,
second ms gnitude, star Gamma, or Bella
tria These two form with Lambda a CON
spicuous triangle, the latter star, in con
junction with two rather faint stars, mark
ing the bea of the great hunter.
South of Betelgeuse and Bellatria three
bright, second magnitude, stars in a short,
straight line point out the Belt of Orion.
They are Delta, or Mintaka. Epsilon, or
Alnilam. and Zeta, CT Amitah. The Belt is
exactly three degrees long and presents n
conN eniellt measure Oh tHe SpHeficai uls-
lance of the stars. IL is kno wn under diff
ferent names; for instance, the Three Kings,
as, on one side. taey point out the Pleiades
and Hyad on the other side, the most
brilliant fixed star in the heave ls-sirfus.
In ancient time these three stars were some
times called J.c0b's Rod, and in more
modern times the Ell aud Yard. On the
other side OF the Belt the beautiful, first
magnitude, star Beta, or Rigel, presents
another s,Iiking feature of the constella-
ton RiseI is really somewhat brighter