The herald., 1898-09-18
LOS ANGELES HERALD MORNING,


furthest western point. fair Venus reaches
her furthest eastern limit, which Is almost
three times as far from the central point T.
as Mercury gets. From this on Venus will
be retrac!ng her steps, until, early in De-
cember, she will be in conjunction with THE
sun, and will for time leave the evening
sky. She will, however. be with us for a
number of weeks yet, and her lustrous
disk will be increasing in size until, over
come by Old Soils more powerful rays, she
fades from our view. Venus requires alto
gether a year and seven months to run
through her changes, SO tina, II you find
her bright star tonight you may feel
sure tha; she was bright evening star a.
year and seven months ago, and that, after
similar period, We shall once more have
her shining as queen of the evening skies.
After dark or an hour or two before sun
rise one mus. never expect 10 see Venus
right overhead She is always at such
times, when at all to be seen, either in the
west or the east. So that, unless the al
manac says that Venus is an evening or a
morning star. one need not trouble to
search for her. or course, 1t is hardly nee
essary 10 say that Venus can never be an
evening and a morning star at the same
time.
Neptune ranks among the morning stars.
and is at present to be found in the con-
ISOLATION Of the Bull, the brightest star Of
which IS Aldebaran. This star is at the
eye of the Bull, and Is found by following
Orion's Bel. upward and TO the right.
Aldebaran is of so ruddy a color that be-
ginners are sometimes ap; to confuse it
with the planet Mars. 20 which. under GER
tain circumstances, 1t certainly bears re-
semblance. Neptune is working his way
toward the position of quadrature, where
he will arrive on the 17th. which will mark
he halfway post be- conjunction and
opposition. After reaching opposition In
the month of December, the planet will
again be Of the evening group.
Mars also finds Itself among the morning 9
stars. and two days after last quarterins
Luna occults he planet. Were it a; a
more favorable hour, and We're it not that
the moons face will be rather brilliant a:
the time, It would be extremely in;eresur g
20 watch the TWO approach one another,
then see the planet apparently dodge in be-
hind the disk Of the moon. to reappear after
awhile on The other edge. The scientists,
with their powerful telescopes a; such
times. have ;he layman at a great disad-
vantage. Mars. as a performer on the celes-
tial boards. really ought no: to be ranked as
star just present: bu; when he really
does come before us IN that light. he will
have all the world as interest ed observers.
Jupiter is now about taking well-needed
rest. after having Played par; in some
most interesting and fascinating tahleaux.
He will be in conjunction with the sun
early in Oc ober. and when next we see him
in November. it Will be as the herald Of
day, to whose light alone does he have 10
.ower his colors. He will then appear some
what smaller than al present, bu will in
crease in size before the years close.
Saturn finds himself in cor junction with
the moon on he 21st, but The matter is
hardly of sufficient a;:ractiveness. as the
,wo are not only near each other, bu,
the moon quarters the following night. So,
at the lime of injunction. there will be 200
much ligh. 20 show off the bes: points Of
the planet. Saturn. on the LIST of The month,
comes to our meridian abou; $50 in the
evening, and gets there about an hour and a
quarter earlier before the mon; h closes.
Uranus fills a very unimportant place this
month. and keeps so far from any very
prominent body that one gets Ntle help in
trying to establish his exac; location. He
is an evening star, and is in Is degrees 80
minutes righ: ascension. and 20 degrees
south deolinat,on.-New York Times.