The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-06
THE JULY HEAVENS.

Constellations Visible-Where to Look
 For the Planets-The Evening Stars.
 The constellations visible in the even ings of July may be best enumerated from their relation to the zodacal groups. The latter are Leo in the northwest, then Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and in the southeast Sagittarius South of them in the west may be seen Crater, Corvus and Hydra. North of them, west of the meridian, are Leo Minor, Ursa Major Coma, Bernices and Bootes. Along the meridian lie Ursa Minor Corona Borealis and Serpeus. East of the meridian are Cepheus, Cyg- nus, Lyra, Hercules, Ophincus, Aquila and Delphinus.
 The last two have well marked fig ures. Aquila is distinguished by three bright stars in a line, the middle one the bright star Altair. It is to the southeast of Lyra. Near these stars, little north and east, is diamond shaped group between Delphinus and the Northern Cross, which marks Cyg- nus in Vulpecula. The stars immedi- ately north of the three of Aquila are Sagitta; those immediately west of Aquila are now included in Aquila, but often spoken of as Antinous. This is one of the most unsatisfactory parts of the sky for an amateur, as it is ditfi- cult to trace the constellation figures. Position of Venus.
 The first thing that catches the eye when the glow of sunset has faded bit is the face of fair Venus, radiant, beautiful and appealing, as it shines clear-cut against the tints of the gold marged sky, perfect dream from out the day that has almost finished. The lovely picture made by the new moons crescent and the planet a month or more ago can hardly be looked for just at present, as the two bodies are sepa- rated too far for scenic effects. We 1 shall have to content ourselves little while longer until Jupiter and Venus | closely approach each other, when we 1 shall have fine chance to compare the | two, although at no time will they ap- 1 pear as though they were touching one another Jupiter having reached the po- sition of quadrature, or half way be- 1 tween opposition and conjunction, is now high overhead about 5.30 in the | evening, and as he draws in toward the sun he reaches our meridian earlier | each successive night, until finally he gets there about the same time the sun 1 does, and will then be in conjunction with the sun. Some weeks before this l the brighter rays of the sun will have put out Jupiter's lanterns and we shall | lose him from the familiar place he has held among the evening stars. When again he comes into view some time to- ward the close of November it will be l as a morning star.
 Mars is the first of the planets this month to be in conjunction with the moon, and this event will occur on the l 18th. Mars is one of the early birds now and gets out of bed early enough to be half way on his journey across the blue vault by eight o'clock in the | morning.
 The Other Planets.
 Neptune and the fading crescent are at their closest for the month on the 18th, when the planet will be some three and one-half degrees to the southward of our satellite. Neptune is in the con- stellation of the Scorpion, the familiar outline of which, with it's brightest gem, Anpares, needs no further expla- notion to identify it's general locale.
 Mercury remains hidden in the suns rays throughout the month, but is mov- ing on the eastern portion of it's wing, and early in August we should be able to see it for awhile just after the sun, when it will appear tremblingly, gleam- ing like a lamp about to expire. Ura- mus is an evening star also. Saturn is still one of the evening stars, and is drawing near the quarter post of his circuit. At present we have him as high over our heads as he manages to get at $40 in the evening, and he will arrive at about the same place some two hours earlier at the close of the month. He is not as bright just now as he was a while ago, nor is he as large. Still his soft, mellow light is al ways most agreeable.