The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-02-07

draws nearer the sun, passing behind
1t on the 9th and appearing east of the
sun, or in the evening sky afer that
date.
Saturn can be readily found in the
early morning, rising on the first at
I 3:4O a. m. Its brightest ascension on
that date is 17h. q min. and it's declin-
alton S, II degrees As min. 1t is 5 de-
grees north of Antares. On the 26th it
is in quadrature, or 80 degrees distant
from the sun.
The moon passes near the planets in
the following order: Sd, Jupiter; 9TH,
Uranus; 9Th, Saturn and Venus; 9th,
Mercury; 10th, Neptune; 21st, Mars.
The consultations visible this month
are the most conspicuous in the whole
heavens. Near the meridian each eve
ming are Ursa Minor in the north, Auri-
| ga overhead, Orion and Lepus in the
south. In the western half of the sky
are Aries, Taurus, Perseus, Andro-
media and Cassiopeia; in the eastern
half are Genmini, Cancer Leo, Ursa
Major, CAMS Major and CAMS Minor
The brightest star visible is the planet
Mars, high in the east; Castor is the
northern and Pollux the southern of the
two stars near it. Sirius is in the south
east, the highest of the fixed stars. The
red star above the Belt of Orion is
named Betelgeuse, a word formed from
three Arabic words meaning the
Shoulder of the Giant, and whose cor
rect pronunciation is not determined.
The star below the Belt of Orion is
Rigel. Aldebraran Is the red star south
of the Pleiades; Capella is the white
star nearly overhead: Procyon is the
bright star, between Mars and Sirius
and Regulus the red star below Mars in
the handle of the Sickle.
THE NEW PLANET EROS.
The most interesting astronomical
discovery for several years is that of a
small planet last August by Witt of
Berlin. 1t was Professionally lettered
Do, according to the custom of letter
ing newly discovered planets until a
name is chosen by the discoverer The
Importance of the discovery Is in the
fact that the planet is not in the large
group of minute planets which are
called asteroids, all of which previously
known as between Mars and Jupiter.
Eros is between the earth and Mars
in it's average distance. Its orbit is
quite elongated and it comes nearer
the earth than any other planet except
our moon. Besides interesting for this
fact alone, it is an important acauisl-
ton to the mathematical astronomer
By observations which will be made
two years from now, it will be possible
to ascertain the distance of the sun
with greater precision than has been
possible up to this time.
A very interesting fact brought out
by this discovery is the Importance OF
photography in modern astronomy. The
planet was detected by photography,
two plates exposed on the same region
of the sky having shown the planet in
two different places on account of it's
motion between their exposure. A large
number of asteroids have been dis
covered in this way. But photography |
has aided in another way. For num-
Der of years the director of Harvard |
observatory has had photographs of |
the whole sky taken at frequent inter |
walls. These plates after examination
are laid away as working library for |
future reference. When this plane.
was discovered the question arose .
whether it had been seen before but
not noticed. 1t was thought remarkable
that it had not been found in 1894
when it was near the earth, moving
rapidly and quite bright. An examina-
ton of the plates exposed in 1894 ana
of those taken in 1896 showed that it
had been photographed many times.
Its place in the sky can be determined
50 accurately from these photographs
that an accurate orbit of the planet
will be obtained and will be available
for the use of astronomers in making
their important observations two years
hence. Professor Pickering's photo
grahpic library is a storehouse of val
liable ords.-Providence Journal.
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G\I&\DH1N1G