The evening times., 1900-02-28

ception Of Neptune the planets are not very
far from one another. some even quite
close Eclipses and remarkable Conjunc-
tion Of the celestial bodies may be regard
ed as the results Of ordinary laws, which
nevertheless appear to break the regular
course Of nature. yet they never fail to eX-
cite surprise. Such events vary greatly IN
frequency. Some one OF the satellites Of
Jupiter is eclipsed nearly every day, but
the simultaneous eclipse OF three satellites
can only take place. according to calcula-
ton after a lapse OF more than a million
years close conjunction OF two planets
always eXcites admiration. and yet these
cOnjUnctions must occur at intervals in the
ordinary course OF their motions most
remarkable conjunction OF Mars Jupiter
Saturn. and Mercury. which took place in
the year 2446 B. c.. was adopted by the
Chinese Emperor. Chuen Hio. as a new
epoch for the chronology OF his empire,
though there is some doubt whether the
conjunction was really observed, OF was
calculated from the supposed law OF mo-
tion OF the planets. II is certain that on
the llth Of November. 1924 the planets We
nus. Jupiter. and Saturn were seen very
close together. while Mercury was only Is
degrees distant
South OF CAMS Minor and east Of CAMS
Major Is situated the large constellation
ATgO Navis, or the ship Argo the principal
portion OF which however lies in the
southern hemisphere and cannot be seen
This constellation is remarkable for con-
tanning the brightest star after Sirius.
This is Alpha Argus. OF CanOpus.
In places whose latitude is 81 degrees p
minutes. as. for instance. Roanoke and
Lynchburg. in the State Of Virginia. it just
rises up TO the horizon, while in places
south Of them il rises above the horizon.
Nearly degrees farther south Of CanO-
pus is another most remarkable star in
the same constellation, which is not visi-
bic from any part Of the United States ex-
cept the middle and southern portions OF
Florida. This is Eta Argus, which in the
year of 1S43 shone with a lustre inferior
only to Sirius. and in 1865 was still shining
with the brightness OF a first magnitude
star. Since then il suddenly diminished in
brightness down to the seventh magnitude.
which is its present brightness. The star
Zeta Argus, or Naos, was mentioned in
our last article as the extremity Of a line
drawn from BetelgueZe to Sirius and pro-
duced by it's own length and forming a
part of the Egyptian Cross The gap be-
tween Gemini and CAMS Minor on the
north and Argo Navis and CAMS Major on
the south is filled up by the constellation
MOnoceros. OF the Unicorn one of the mod
ern consultations made up by Helvetius in
the seventeenth century. None OF the
stars in this otherwise large constellation
is above the fourth magnitude rendering
IL rather inconspicuous
East OF CAMS Minor lies the zodiacal
constellation of Cancer. or the Crab. which
does not contain a single prominent star,
but is easily recognizable from its position
and in a clear and moOnless night BY
nebulous cloud called Praesepe or the
Manger. Nith the two stars Gamma and
Delta near il. which bear the singular
name Of Aselli, or the DOnseys. Praesepe
is also called occasionally the Beehive" q"
Auriga with Capella In the north is half
way between the meridian and the western
horizon. and the beautiful constellation
Orion is rapidly approaching the horizon
Gemini and CAMS Minor are still high I'D
in the heavens, though bending toward the
west In the southwest CAMS Major. with
brilliant Sirius, may still be seen, while
in the east the constellation Leo is climb
ing up and rapidly approaching the merid
ian. Northeast a magnificent star is rising
which at once will be recognized as Arc
turus. the brightest fixed star north of the
equator. .,.
The period OF visibility Of constellation
or a star depends solely upon the latitude
OF the place of observation, for which rea-
son some consultations may be seen for a
greater period of the year than others. All
the stars describe a circle which cuts the
plane of the horizon under the same angle,
equal in magnitude to the difference OF 90
degrees and the latitude, and from this fol-
lows that stars with a greater declination,
that is, with a greater distance from the
equator, will describe larger arc above
the horizon and remain visible for lon
ger period. Stars whose declination is so
degrees 43 seconds or more never set In
these latitudes, and cons tellations that lie
within these limits are called circumpolar.
because they describe complete circles
around the pole that do not intersect the
horizon. The circle whose distance from
The pole equals the latitude Of the place Of
| observation is called the circle of per
petual apparition and forms the limit Of
| that part Of the sky which is always in
| view.