The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-03-12
THE MARCH SKIES.
Where to Look For the zodiacal Light
and Aurora Borealis.
CNew York Tfmes.)

/
CNew York Tfmes)
'Tfs in March that the sun, after his
six months sojourn south of the equa-
tor. trips across the line, and the night
again borrows sunlight from the sky
| While the planets that have 50 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
jewellers in the country must not fail to
look for during March and April. It's
soft phosphorescent light will be found
extending eastward along the ecliptic
from the point where the sun sets. In
| some ATTITUDES it has far greater space
| allowed it, as it quite spans the sky.
We are not quite fortunate enough To
| have it quite as extensively placed be-
fore US.
1t will be well also to keep a. sharp
! lookout for the wonderfully impressive
aurora borealis. That beautiful phe-
| nomenon is closely connected with the
| appearance of sun spots, and whenever
| the period approaches when sun spots
are numerous the so-called magnetic
storms are generally of frequent occur
| renee.
Star lovers VIII be fully rewarded in
! temporarily transferring their atten-
| ton from the planets to some of the
star clusters; particularly will they be
! repaid for a. study of the southwestern
section of the heavens. There you viii
| find Sirius, the greatest OF all fixed
stars, and above and to the eastward of
| him PrOcyOn, the ".Litel DOgge." Fur
| Their to the west from the head of the
Bull viii twinkle the rudy Aidebaran.
| accompanied by the famous cluster of
the Pleiades, and above and beyond
them the beautiful Capella. High over
head will shine the twin brothers, Cas-
| tor and PolluX, and looking down from
the midst of all this viii be Orion. the
mighty hunter, easily distinguished by
his beautiful belt, his pendant sword,
on which lies the misty glow of the
great nebula- his carved shield of lions
hide and the lustrous stars Of Betel-
geux and BelIatrix marking his shouI-
ders, and Rigel his left foot
Considerably to the west of Orion. in
Perseus, will be found the wonderful
variable star AIgol. which shines for
two days and fourteen hours as star
of the third magnitude, then in the
course of three hours and a. quarter
dWindles to the fourth magnitude, re-
mains thus faint for a quarter of an
hour, and in another three hours and a
quarter regains is normal brilliancy.
The best accepted explanation of this
phenomenon seems to be that q great
dark body like our earth. only much
larger, revolves around Algol once in
siXty-nine hours. partially eclipsins
that distant sun al every circuit
The moon is interested this month in
rather more than the ordinary number
of planetary cOnjunctions. there being
altogether nine of Theses events OF
these Jupiter and Uranus furnish two
each. Jupiter's being on the ID and 18th,
and Uranus on the 4th and 31st The
closest and most beautiful meeting of
all will be the one on the Sth when
Venus and the moon will seem to be al
most touching each other. The last
quarter of the old moon occurs on the
4th, while the new moon comes to us on
the 18th. There will be a first quarter
ing on the 18th, and a full moon on the
27th.
This is the last full month for Jupite7.
to be among the morning stars for in
April he is in opposition, and rises as
the sun sets. Uranus does not have the
moon quite near enough him to indicate
his exact whereabouts, as he is mOrs
than two degrees to the northward on
both occasions. Saturn is now a morn
ing star.
Venus is now moving in toward the
sun. and after awhile she will get
there, and when she again energies it
will be to gladden. cur eyes and delight
us by her presence in the evening skies.
She is a beautiful object now in the
early morning hours, as she shines so
clearly and with such brilliancy JUST
before sunup.
Neptune will until June shine as an
evening star.
Mercury remains an evening star
throughout the month, and gets to his
greatest eastern el0ngation on the 24th,
when we will be able to find him shin
ing in the sunset glow shortly after the
sun has sunk below the horizon line.
His steady light will possibly admit Of
his being distinguished from the twink
ling stars in the immediate neighbour
hood.
Mars has nothing of Importance to do
for our interest or amusement this
month. He continues to be the most con-
spicuOus Of the evening contingent, but
as the others can hardly be seen 1t is
not very much Of a position, and he will
make but slight opposition to Jupiter'S
demands for first place in April