Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-02-09
The HEAVENS In FEBRUARY
NUMBER OF BRIGHT STARS AND
STRIKING STAR GROUPS VISIBLE.
Planets in tho Field of viow-Mars,
Though Chief Among the Evening
stars, is Not Particularly
Conspicuous.

ntHl ulODSclNdnl Oh people. FROM the /
beginning OF January to the opening of |
February the gain hcreabouts is almost |
thrcc-quattcrs of an hour. Counting from |
the shortest day. in the later part of De- !
cember, an additional five minutes or so !
Will be obtained. The sun rises earlier |
and earlier each day and sets later and |
later. Most of the gain. though. comes
in the latter part of the day. Of the forty
and odd minutes of increase made in jan
uary only thirteen minutes belong to the
forenoon. So much for the effect of the
equation of time. which, as we have al
ready explained, is the difference between /
mean and apparent time, says the New
York Times.
While there is a lack of conspicuous 1
planets in the field of view in the evening
at this time, the number of the brilliant
stars and striking star groups which are
visible removes all pretcxt for dissatis-
faction on this account. The armament
never presents moro varegated and
splendid panorama than 1t displays in
midwinter An hour or two after sunset
on any of the nights near the beginning
of February, Betelgucuse and Risel may
be seen in the south west; Sirius little
lower in the sky in the same quarter;
Procyon and the Twins, Castor and Pol |
lux, in the east and Capclla and Aide !
baran nearly overhead, the former to the
nOrthward and the latter to the south |
ward of the zenith point. About o'clock
view in the east, and Spica, two hours
later, will be in plain sight in the south
cast These are all among the brightest
stars ever visible to us.
Among the most striking consultations
or star clusters now in view at S o'clock
are Orion ana the Greater Dog in the
southeast, the Lesser Dog and the Twins
in the east, the Bull in the south, not far
from the zenith; the Charoteer north of
that point. the Great Bear, or Dipper. in
the northeast, and Perseus, Andromeda,
and the Lady in Her Chair in the north
west.
All of these groups are composed of
what are ordinarily known as fixed stars,
an expression which, by the way. is IA
msnomer, for almost every star that has
been observed long enough is seen to be
in notion Indeed, it is not at all likely;
in fact, it is infinitely improbable, that
such an object as n really fixed star act
ually exists. When the place of star
has been accurately determined by meas
urements made with the Meridian Circle,
as it is called, and when after the lapse
of number of years the place OF the
same star Is again determined by Obser-
walton, it not unfrequently happens that
the two places disagree. The explanation
is, of course, that the star has moved
in the interval. Thus the consultations
are becoming gradually transformed by
the movements of the several stars which
/ lOlUl lHeu 1t II True tilit IKE iiONf-
ments are so slow that even in thousands
of years the changes do not amount to
much when regarded a disturbance of
The configuration. Thus, to take an eN-
ample, we know the movements of the
| stars forming the Great Bear sufficiently
/ well to be able to sketch the position of
| the stars they We're 1900 years ago or
as they will be in 10000 years to come, and
though no doubt some distortion is shown
in each of these pictures from the present
ineaments of the Great Bear yet the
identity of the group is in each case well
preserved
The last quartering of the January moon
occurs on the ID, and the February new
moon is not due until the 10th. on the
18th we have the phase of first quartering,
followed by full moon on the 18th. The
! greater number of conjunctionS between
| the moon and the planets take place be-
! fore the 10th, the day of new moon, when
shows the majority of the planets are
ranked among the morning stars for this
month. In fact, Neptune and Mars are
/ the only evening stars, but with neither
does the moon come in very close proXi-
nifty. and even these nleagre exhibitions
are not favorably located for us to OBJ
serve.
Jupiter is the first of the planets this
month to receive Il visit from Luna, and
the event occurs on the Sd. Jupiter is
now morning star of high repute, the
! highest, DTODdDlN, as ne RelS up SOlIc
time before his brethren and is five or six
hours ahead of Old Sol We find him
moving along toward the point of opposi-
ton, which he reaches in April. and after
which we shall have him to interest us
in the evening. He is steadily growing in
size, and when we get him in opposition
he will be we'll worthy of our attention
and admiration If we have access to
sufficiently powerful glass to see Jupl-
! ter's satellites it is we'll worth while to
take a look at them. Sometimes one or
more satellites will be projected on the
disk of the planet Then again, one or
more will be invisible, being concealed in
occultation behind the disk or cclipsed in
the shadow of the planet.
Uranus. when in conjunction with the
moon, hits it more closely than any of the
others, but then this glorious planet Is
not visible, we need not rise from our
long winters nap" to try and get snap
shot OF this meeting. The planet is in the
const citation of the scorpion, about 8 de-
arees north of the brightest star of that
constellation it is slowly Withdrawing.
Uranus, on the 26th, Is in quadrature, or
half way toward opposition with the sun,
at which latter part of May, when he al
SO will become "A morning star.
Saturn is also a morning star, and now
rises some three hours and half ahead
of the sun. He moves at "A rate of speed
that will not get him transferred to the
evening stars De1OTt june at WHICH lllH'
he will be at his largest for the year, and
, in the best situation for observation, as
he will be rising Just about the time the
sun is setting. The three rings about Sa-
turn are what make him of so much in
terest to us. These three rings lie in the
same plane and they are so thin that
, when turned cdgewise toward us the
whole system almost disappears, except in
very powerful telescopes. The outer and
inner bright rings are divided by dark
line which can be traced entirely round.
At the inner edge of the inner ring be-
gins that strange structure called the
Grape ring, which extends half way toward
the globe of the planet. The most remark
: able point about the Grape ring Is its
mi-transparency, for we are sometimes
permitted to see the globe of the planet
right through this strange curtain. The
Grape ring can only be observed with
powerful telescope. The other two rings
are within the powers of very moderate
Instruments,
Venus now arises while the dawn is
thousands of miles away, over the great
round of our sunward-turning earth.
, She shines in all her lovely radiance and
beauty until the great hunt Of tho mighty
D shadows begins and they are sent fleeing
before the arrows of the sun over the
broad face Of the mighty world. The
most satisfactory thing connected with
Venus is her reaching the extreme west
ern limit of her voyage on the 10th. At
i ter this she turns toward the sun. and
: after a long, tiresome waiting we shall
In Ia .,.t, IInC.