Evening journal., 1899-12-06
THE SKIES IN
DECEMBER


SO uoSa Gsili nayo Icr phases dur
5ac lho raoath OF QoCemher as fouoH's:
Ns-s, or the a, first cuerter, on the
IN fun. on the 10th. and last quarter,
6o The e4tn. She will be nearest the
.1-th en- the 7th, and farthest on on
fbe rad. While at the beginning OF the
month the sun will be ] degrce 81 min
nies from the southern limit OF bis mo-
lion in declination, he viii roach that
limit on the 22d Of the month lt l56 D..
M al which precise moment the VIM
ter season begins At the beginning
of the month the hourly variation Of
the SUMS declination is about 20 Sec
onds. while on the day previous to the
Winter solstice it is only about half a
a second. proving the slowness OF the
suns motion near the solsuces. It's
motion in right ascension, however, Is
faster at the solstices than at the equi-
noxes. which clearly follow from the
fact that the path Of the suns motion
IS inclined to the equator
and hence the motion in declination
tends to parallelism, and IS conse-
auently slow, and TO perpendicularity
at the eQuinoxes and is. therefore,
quick. while in regard 20 the motion in
right ascension the case is obviously
reversed.
THE PLANETS.
Tho planet Mercury is at first in
sagittarius, about the middle OF the
month IN Scorpio but toward the end
back in sagittarius, on account Of its
apparenteretrograde motion. The ap-
parent motion of the planets among
the stars cannot but be somewhat per-
picking to any person who lacks the
power of realizing the motion of body
viewed from a moving body. Viewed
from the sun, all the planets would be
seen to advance in the same direction,
viz. from west 70 east in planes but
slightly inclined TO each other, but with
UNEQUAL velocities. and such a thing
as retrograde motion could not take
place Seen. however, from the earth
a body that is itself in motion. the
motions OF the planets around the sun
appear In an entirely different manner
Surprising two. bodiesstosmQve .jp GbS
same direction at diifeEent rates, il Is
easy to see and Is a common experience
thatVIhe" slower of'the vf3Udit 81 US -sec1
from the swifter, would appear to move
in the opposite direction. When &
nlanot appears to move in the
direction in which the SUI
appears to move IN the ecliptic
its apparent motion Is said to be direct
while. when IL appears 10 move In thl
contrary direction, Il is said to be retro
grade The apparent motion of an In
ferior planet Is always direct cNcep
within certain clongation east an'
west of the inferior conjunction whel
lis rclrorrade. The apparent motiOl
Of y superior planct--that Isl one who's
r-hit envclons that of the earth--i
similar TO that of an inferior planet. eN
ccpt that in The latter case the retro
1fession takes place near inferior con
junction. and in the former near az
nceition
Ncnus will be az first in Sagittariu
ard later on in Capricdlnus She is d
present ino near the sun 10 be seen Ion
-iu the evening and then onl
IN the evening twilight She will 81
ahnnt 6 O'Clock in the evening. and "
NAV catch glimpse of her when she
riesc tn the horizon Vonus bega
hrins as an evening star at the latt,
ra-i of November and VIII act IN th
ceplcity until ncXt August MAJ
kecpa near Venus. and will set nearl
halt an hour earlier than the latt,
planet so that he Is in an unfavorah
as morning nor evening star. Jupitl
T. 10 scorpiu. and will act as mOrnin
star During the first portion Of Il
uGnth the great planet rises betweo
2 aud 8 o'clock. and during the latt,
between 4 and o'clock. so that a
carly riser will see this beautifl
planet in the eastern portion of II
sky. heralding the coming of the kin
OF day. Saturn is the third Of the plaI
cts that are in the constellation Sagi
tarius. but, as IL sets before o'cloo
in the afternoon, it, rs, like Mars, in a
unfavorable position for observatio
On the nth of the month it will be
conjunction with the sun and total
invisible except of course. through
large telescope. The planetary aspe
OF the sky during the December eve
ings is consequently no fine one. viii
the morning skies viii be adorned
the presence Of Jupiter
EcLIPsEs.
IN course of the month two eclips
will occur. an annular eclipse OF Il
sun ON the I'd, not visible in this lai
tude. and a partial eclipse of the mo,
on the 9th, which will be visible hel
Neerly the whole part OF the lunar di
wifi be cclipsed. The beginning OF I
eclipse viii be 6.45 In the evening al
end about 1907
COMETS.
Comets, although deprived OF tn,
threatening character. which they {
loved for so many ages, are still Of
tense interest both by rarity Of tn
appearance and by a certain mystC
that still adheres to them. II is I
oar intention in this article to EN-
into a fun description OF these singu
bodies, but only to touch upon some
their peculiarities From the enormC
space they occupy in the sky one VOL