The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-07
IN MARCH.
What the Heavens Offer
This Month.


SIX months sojourn south of the equa-
tor, trips across the line, and the night
again borrows sunlight from the day.
When the sun is at the equator nights
and days are equal throughout the
world, hence the term equinox. This
happens twice every year, in March and
In September; the former is called the
Vernal and the latter the autumnal
equinox. The equinoxes do not how
! ever, divide the year into portions of
equal length, for in consequence of the
earth being at its greatest distance
| from the sun during the summer
months, and its angular motion in its
orbit being consequently slower, the in
terval from the vernal to the autumn
nal equinox Is greater than that of the
Autumnal to the Vernal. In other words
the sun continues longer on the north
efn than on the southern side of the
equator At the beginning of the pres
ent century this difference amounted
TO days, 16 hours and 81 minutes. The
summer in the northern hemisphere is,
consequently, longer than in the south
ern by this quantity, and to this cir
cumstance Some meteorologists ascribe
IN part at least, the higher temperature
that is found to prevail in the northern
hemisphere under a corresponding par
allel of latitude.
While the planets that have SO gen
erously and beautifully graced our
evening sky are not all to be seen at
present, there are some other charming
and wonderful features to attract our
attention. Among these may be classed
the zodiacal light, whose nebulous
glow dWellers In the country must not
fall to look for during March and April
owing TO the Impurities of the city at
mosphere, town people are but seldom
afforded this treat. Its soft phospho-
resent light will be found extending
eastward along the ecliptic from the
point where the sun sets. In some
latitude it has far greater space al
lowed it, as it quite spans the sky. We
are not quite fortunate enough to have
1t quite as extensively placed before
U.s.
1t will be well also to keep a sharp
lookout for the wonderfully impress
slVe aurora borealis. That beautiful
phenomenon is closely connected with
the appearance Of sun spots, and when
ever the period approaches when sun
Spots are numerous the so-called mag
netic storms are generally of frequent
occurrence.
Star lovers will be fully rewarded in
temporarily transferring their atten-
tion from the planets to some of the
star clusters; particularly will they be
repaid for a study of the southwest
ern section of the heavens. You will
nnd SIRIUS, the greatest of all fixed
stars, and above and to the eastward
OF him Procyon, the 'Litel Dogge. &"
FURTHER to the west from the head of
Ine bun VIII twinkle the rudy AL
debaran, accompanied by the famous
cluster of the Pleiades, and above and
beyond them the beautiful CapelIa-
High overhead will shine the twin
brothers Castor and Pollux, and looking,
down from the midst of all this will
be Orion, the mighty hunter, easily dis
tinguished by his beautiful belt. his
pendent sword, on which lies the misty
glow Of the great nebula, his carved
shield Of lions hide and the lustrous
stars Betelgeux and Bellatrix marking
his shoulders, and Rigel his left foot.
Considerably to the west of Orion, in
Ferseus, will be found the wonderful
variable star Algol, which shines for
two days and fourteen hours as a star
OF third magnitude, then in the course
OF three hours and a quarter dwindles
to the fourth magnitude, remains thus
Ialnt Tor a quarter OF an hour, and in
another three hours and a quarter re-
gains its normal brilliancy. The best
accepted explanation of this phenom-
enon seems to be that a great dark
body like our earth, only much larger.
reVolves around Algol once in So hours.
partially eclfpsing that distant sun at
every circuit.
A lecturer on the fixed stars recently
hit upon the following adroit method
to illustrate the distance to Centauri
we shall suppose THAI some wealthy
directors, for want of outlet for their
energy and capital, construct a railway
to Centauri, and with a view toward
the encouragement of traffic put the
fare at 2 cents per 100 miles. Desiring
to take advantage of the reduced rates,
gentleman, by way of providing him
self with small change for the jour-
ney. buys up the national debt of Eng
land and a few other countries and de-
mands seat in Pullman car for
Centauri. For this he presents a check
representing a total of S5,000 600, 000
more or less. Having taken his seat, 1t
occurred to him to ask, AT what rate
do you traveI?' Sixty miles an hour,
sir, including stoppages,' is the an
swer. Then, when shall we reach Cen
tssuri? In 4s.663,000 years sir!'"
The moon is interested this month in
rather more than the ordinary number
of planetary con5unctions, there being
altogether nine of these events. Of
these Jupiter and Uranus furnish two
each, Jupiters being On the I'd and
18th, and Uranus on the 18th and 31st
The closest and most beautiful meet
ing of all will be the one on the Sth
when Venus and the moon will seem
to be almost touching each other. The
last quartering of the old moon occurs
ON the 4th. while the new moon comes
to us on the nth. There will be a first
quartering on the 18th, and a full moon
on the 9th.
This is the last full month for Jupi-
ter to be among the morning stars, for
In April he is in opposition, and rises
as the sun sets. After that event the
planet begins to approach the sun, and
In November he once more enters the
realm of the morning stars. Neither
of his conjunctions with the moon is
practically close: that on the I'd will