Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-11-17
THE NOVEMBER SKIES.
Phases OF the Moon-The Planets and
CONCENTRATIONS.

! In course of the month of November the
moon Will pass through her phases as foi-
lows: On the 9th she will be IN her last
quarter, ON the 18th new, the 10Th III
her first quarter, and on the 9th fun ON
the 18th she will be In apogee, and the 10th
III pcrlSee. While on the LIST OF November
the sun is Il little over ii degrees 81 MN
utes south of the equator, ne Will be at
the termination of the month but lla de
gree distant from the extreme southern
limtt-the winter solstiCe.
The planet Mn"culy passes, in the course
OF Novemh:-. through The consultations
Libra, Scurpio and So gittarius, coming IKE
venus quite close to The red star Antarcs
in Scorpio. ABOUT the middle of the month
Mercury and Venus will be close tOge ther,
but as the constellation within the bound
airy Of which they both VIII be at that
time will be then beneath the horizon dur
ing the night, an observation of this close
conjunction will be out of the question.
Venus will be in Scorpiu during the
whole extent of the montn though very
close ~ Sasittarius at its termination.
Jupiter Is IN Virgo, and as this ConstCia-
ton has set, the great planet will not he
seen In the evening skies. but may be no
ticcd by early risers close to the eastern
horizon about five . clock in the morning,
acting In the capacity of morning star.
Mars is in Cancer and also shines as a
morning star. saturn Is in Scorpio and
not very distant from his sister plaret
Venus. Could Uranus be seen with the
naked eye, its proximity to Venus and
saturn would present an interesting spec
tack. The remote planet Neptune is in
Taurus, where he has been lingering SO
long, and will continue doing so for a con-
siderable time to come. This planet
marks the limit of our solar system Tor
al attempts OF discovering u trans ep-
tunlan planet have thus far proved
futile as those of finding an intra- Mercur-
ial one 1T is, therefore, II thought not de-
void of interest how the other planets
would look If viewed fiom a planet that
is nearly three millions of miles distant
from us. or such n number but few, IL
amy, can have an adequate conception.
A railway train going at rate of sixty
miles Il hour would require more than
five thousand years to accomplish such
q distance. 1t would take light, the swift
est of al travellers, which is transmitted
/ through space at the rate of $1,000 miles
In one second of time, about one hour and
u quarter to reach IS from Neptune. And
Istill, stupendous as this seems it
is insignificant when compared with
sidereal distances. Viewed from Nep-
tune the sun would look like a
large electric arc lamp at a distance of
d few feet. Looked at with the naked eye
Venus, the earth and Mars would be ut
tCrly invisible, the earth never being far
ther from the sun than two degrees, that
is. less than half the distance of the two
Pointers In the Great Bear. The maxi
mum elongatiun of Jupiter would be 10
degrees, but the observation of Uranus
would be more favorable than 1t is from
the EARTH II has been estimated that
the intensity of the sunlight at the earth
- equal TO that of Cls,ooo full moons. At
Neptune the sunlight would amount to
GS full moons; so that, contrary to some
, erroneous statements we sometimes meet
with, even in textbooks on astronomy.
there would be enough light for all visual
purposes. Taking, however. the tempera-
turc into account, which must needs be
low, not to mention ether conditions nee
essary to life, beings physically constitut-
ed like ourselves could not exist on the
: surface of this rcmotest of all the planets
of our solar system.
. The most important of the consultations
that in the course of the month of Novem-
Der will come to the meridian at an earlier
hou, of the evening are Andromeda, Pts
b ces. Cassoret and Cepheus. The star
' which forms the other extremity of the
diagonal of the Great Square of Pegasus,
one extremity OF which is Markab is the
brightest in Andromeda, and as such
Alpha Andromcdae, or Alpheratz, though
occasionally lettered Delta Pegasi. The
Great Square, with Andromeda and one
star in Pcrseus, presents Il contiguraton
not unlike the Great Dippcr Of Ursa
Major The star next to AlpheratZ in the
handle of this dipper is Beta, or Mirach,
and the third Gamma, or Almaach The
handle bends at this point. and AT a dis-
lance nearly equal to that of Mirach from
Almaach we see the very remarkable
variable star Beta Pcrsei. or Algol. If We
extend the straight line formed by Beta
and Gamma It's extremity Is marked by
Alpha Tcrsei, 20 that really the constella-
tons Pegasus. Andromeda and perseus
, are closely connected, az the two latter
9 are in the ancient NEUROLOGICAL legends.
, Alpha marks the head, Beta the waist
/ and Gamma the feet of the royal maiden
$ that was rescued from the frightful mon
y ster by the hero Perseus. Extending the
: line Of Alpha and Gamma by its own
, length we perceive-'the beautiful first
a magnitude star Capella. In a northwest
I erly direction frori Beta at distance of
i 10 degrees the naked eye may see little
r cloud of light which Is the great
v nehula" in Andromcda, where in the CONF
n parativcly recent year 1885 quite suddenly
star appeared which, after the brief
space of half year totally disappeared
again, thus forming one of the list or
those mysterious stars called temporary.
n Directly south Of Beta Andromedae the
3 constellation Pisces, or the flshes'
A spreads out through a not inconsiderable
n space in the sky. Although it contains no
y star that deserves to be called conspicu-
: Gus, 1t is the last Of the consultations of
@ the zodiac, and the vernal equinox Is situ-
a ated within its boundaries. The constella-
9 two ribbons tied together, all indicated by
rather faint stars. The star representing
the knot of these ribbons is Alpha
Piscium. or FL Rsha, an Arabian word
meaning knot" This star is double and
, constitutes n binary system. The south
ern fish is marked by pentagon, which
in a moonless and cloudless night may be
= easily recognized, Cassiopeia is one OF
: those consultations whose shape, once
Il known, cannot easily be forgotten. for be-
r ing one of the circumpolar considerations
y that never set in our latitude. II may be
seen at any time of the night, and its Pc
b Guitar connruratinn, that Of a w. rem
II ders 1t very conspicuous Cassiopeia lies
i ON the opposite side OF the pole from the
: Great Dpper. at nearly the same dis
c lance. The topmost star in the last stroke
{ is Beta or Caph, while the lower star in
t that stroke is Alpha, or Shedir. The
i reader will recollect that Polaris Is not
u exactly coincident with the true pole OF
II the heavens, but at present 1i2 degrees
U distant from IT, Polaris, therefore, de-
:, scribes every "a hours small circle
II around the pole, and hence it is of some
= Importance to know on which side OF the
" pole the pole sta- Is situated at "A time
. 1t Is always on the side toward Caph
. Cepheus is likewise circumpoar con-
y stellation, though not as conspicuous as
u Cassiopeia, nor does II contain quite ms
prominent stars. Five of its brightest
stars form a kind of distorted *, the top
most point of the first stroke of which is
Alpha Cephei, or Aldermin, while In the
n middle of that stroke Is Beta, or Alphrk
!; and in the extremity of the last stroke Is
VI Gamma Er Raj.