The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-12-14
DECEMBER SKIES.

Venus, the most brilliant of the plan
 ets gladdens the twilight sky as the De-
 cember afternoon fades into evening.
 Nothing more beautiful could well be
 desired than her clear signal light
 against the gold and white of dying winters day When the glow in the west seems yet too strong for any other heavenly body, unless 1t be the crescent
 moon, then the glory of Venus appears at her best. Not even the times when farthest from the sun she shines with amazing effulgence, is the planet more attractive than when, as now, return ing from long absence in the morning skies, her steady torch reappears in the southwest.
 Particularly welcome is her return to those who have watched her progress in other years from the time she first be- came visible after sunset until she out shone all other stars and planets-mak- ing the unwary believe she was great artificial light sent to the upper regions of the earth's own atmosphere by some great electrical genius-and then. rap luly Ilcu buSh tCNuiu the sun and was lost in his rays, to emerge in the east just before the dawn,
 When one has followed Venus through one or more cycles of changes, the first glimpse of her as evening plan ct is an occasion of deep interest. For several weeks now the planet has been easily located low down in the south west directly after sunset, and no one can mistake or miss her. Each evening she. is brighter than twenty-four hours phevious, and each evening she tarres little longer after the sun has gone down. On the evenings of the third and fourth of the month the planet will be near the young moon, to the east of Luna on the first named date, and to the west on the following night
 That more shy but very attractive comrade of Venus, Mercury, is a morn- ing planet this month, and may possi- bly, be glimpsed by the sharp-sighted early riser on Christmas or the immedi- ately preceding mornings. He must be looked for before the light gets very strong in the east, and a trif1e to the north of the sunrise point. Of course 1t is incomparably more difficult to see Mercury than Venus, but 1t is by no means impossible, and the sight is an interesting one. Once found Mercury stands out so plainly as to make the ob- server wonder at the trouble he may have had in loca ting the planet at first.
 From Mercury to Neptune is a long journey as terrestrial distances go, but merely a step according to celestial standards. Neptune Is In opposition this month, and, although too faint to be seen by the unaided eye, is interest ing on this account. If any discoveries are made about this remote member of | the solar system, it will be when he is | in opposition, and with the great tele scope now available it seems that some i addition to our knowledge in this drec- ton should soon be made
 In some respects Neptune is an in- 1 tensely interesting planet. Professor Young, of Princeton, says that Uranus is the only planet that can be better seen from Neptune than it can from the earth. To dwellers on Neptune Saturn would be fairly conspicuous and Jupi- ter would be seen about as easily as we see Mercury, but the others Mars, the Earth. Venus and Mercury, would be invisible except in the most powerful of telescopes The sun itself would look like a large arc light at a distance of few feet. Neptune's one known satellite is about equal to star 1f the fourteenth magnitude and re- quires the largest of object glasses to make it visible.
 Professor F. F.. Barnard, of the Yerkes observatory, has determined the 'otation period of the fifth satellite of Jupiter, first discovered by himself in 1892, when he was at the Lick observa- ory. His observations of Jupiter with he big forty inch glass at Williams bay 90 to show that this satellite revolves around it's primary in eleven hours, f1f- y-seven minutes and 22.647 seconds, which is not in error more than 0.01 sec- )nds. It is easier to be precise about the