The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-08
IN JANUARY.
What the Skies Present to
Us This Month.

new year 1899 the moon will pass
through her phases as follows: Last
quarter on the 4th, new on the 18th. first
quarter on the 18th and full on the
10th.
Within the year 1899. the last but one
one of the fast waning century, five
eclipses will take place-three of the
sun and two of the moon. The eclipse
of the 18th of January is partial one
of the sun, not visible in the United
States. Were the planes of the moon S
orbit and the ecliptic coincident, it is
evident thai there would be an eclipse
of the moon at every full moon and
an eclipse of the sun at every new
moon. but these two planes are inclined
to each other at an angle of 5 degrees
minutes. and the two points they have
common, or, in other words, their
points of intersection are called the
modes" from a Latin word meaning
knot An eclipse can occur only
when conjunction and opposition, which
are called by the collective name syzy-
giles, happen to be near the line of
modes" so that as the moon comes
into conjunction or opposition, some
parts of the three bodies of the earth
moon and sun may be in a straight
line.
The two nodes are of course, on oppo-
site sides of the heavens, and the inter
val, therefore, of the suns passage
through the nodes must be about half
year. Now the moon comes into the
line of the syzygies about every two
weeks, and so the sun cannot but be
near enough to node for one or two
eellpses possibly even for three every
six months.
1t is in place here to remark that the
soues nave a retrograde motion, per-
FORMING circuit around the ecIiptic
once in about 10 years, in consequences
of which the eclipse months are CON
tlnualiy changing. The time required
by the sun in passing around from a
node to the same node again is very
nearly 24i days, a period sometimes
called the eclipse year" It is a mat
ter of wonder to not a few-and quite
naturally, too-tflat astronomers can
calculate the occurrence of eclipses
wien such astonishing precision, but
the astronomers have made themselves
so thoroughly familiar with what We
not appropriately may call the "ge-
ometry OF the heavens" especially as
10 the orbits of the moon. the earth
ana the planets, that the calculation
or eclipses. though by no means a
simple and easy one, is not the most
dlfhcult problem with which the as
tronomer has to grapple. 1t is the re-
VI Tic SeolHeIIlc part OF the
whole matter to such nice limits which
sheds so great lustre upon the
achievements of this great science and
renders 1t one of the most illustrious in
uhe Whole splendid array of sciences
from Which mankind derives so MANY
practical advantages.
IN the course of the month the sun
VIII sweep through an arc of nearly 6
degrees In declination, coming by that
n a nfp1t
of it.
The planets Mercury and Saturn are
both in Sagittarius and act as mornins.
stars. Venus Is in Scorpio and NAV he
seen in all her brilliancy during the
early morning hours, even for a con
SIDERABLE length of time after the
morning twilight begins to irradiate
the skies Mars is in Cancer, and will
oe brightest on the 18th of January,
the sun. This red planet can be seen
nigh up in the heavens during the ear
~ portion of the morning while vet the
mantle of night covers the earth IN
piter Is in Virgo and also shines as a
morning star. :"
AT about o'clock in the January
evenings Auriga and Taurus will be the
principal consultations of the meridian
OF our latitude. Looking toward the
northwest beautiful white star is too
bright and conspicuous not to attract
at once the attention of any one that
taxes any interest at ali in the Won
oerful map of the heavens This is Ca
pella. In the constellation Auriea or
the Charioteer Capella is, with Vega.
Ine brightest star in our latitude after
SIRIUS and Arcturus. Being in charac-
Ter similar to our sun. it is certainly
great deal larger, though how much
larger it is yet impossible to say. The
brightest stars in Auriga form a kind
OF pentagon, the eXtreinities of one side
or which are marked by Capella or
Alpha Aurigae, and Menkalinan. or
Beta, a bright star OF the second mag
nitude. Southwest OF this consteIla
ton we see the remarkable asterism of
the Pleiades which form one of the
characteristic features Of the constella-
tlon TAURUS, or the Bull, the second of
the twelve consultations of the zodiac
The brightest of the seven stars Of the
Plelades, that can easily be seen with
the naked eye, is Alcyone to which the
German astronomer Nader assigned
the honor of the Central Sun" around
which he thought, though enormously.
our solar system revolved Not far
from the Pleiades, and in a somewhat
southeasterly direction, a V-shaped
hgure is situated, formed by five stars
of which one at once will be recognized
as first magnitude star This cluster
is called the Hyades, and the bright
star in it is Aldebaran, or Alpha Tauri
which, as it marks the eye of the Bull
is sometimes called the Bulls Eye. The
tips of the horns of the beast are
marked by Beta Tauri, or FL Nath and
Zeta.
Due south of Taurus the constella-
ton Eridanus, or the River Pc. mean
ders over so extensive a space in the
skies that astronomers. for the sake of
simplicity have divided it into the
northern and the southern stream. the
latter being by far the brighter, but
not visible in our latitude In the lat
ter is Ackermar, Or Alpha Eridani.
trst-magnitude star of the brightness
of Aldebaran, while Beta, or Cursa a
third magnitude star is situated in the
northern stream. The classical student
will remember the names Eridanus and
Padus as the ancient ones for the mod
ern name Pc. He will also remember
the story, so well told by OVID in his
'metamorphoses" of Phaeton, who was
hurled by Jupiter from Apollo's chariot
into the river Eridanus, where he was
found dead by the nymphs. Though
the constellation Orion is high up. we
shall reserveA detailed description of
this most beautiful of all star pictures
for next MONTH in which, by about 9
o'clock in the evening, it will reach the
meridian.
In speaking of the circumpoiar con-
stellation we have hitherto confined
ourselves to the two Bears. the DRAGON
Cassipoelia and Cepheus, but there Is
really a sixth one-Cameopardalus
modern one, containing no stars above
the fourth magnitude, that was placed
by Hezelius in the seventeenth century
in the sky to cover tho large SPACE be-
tween CaSSiDeria and PoseI1e nm opa