The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-01-01
STARS TN JANUARY SKIES
The Range of Consultations Ac-
eOrding to the Astronomers.
Positions of the Planets During the
Next -Four Weeks - Tive Solar
EcIipses and One Lunar Scheduled
for the First ! ear of the New Cen
tury-CapeIIa as bright rs Vega.

( tween and o'clock in the morning so
that we may catch a glimpse of this beau
tiful planet before the advancing morning
twilight quells her light She viii act as
morning star until the last OF April. and
as evening star the remainder of the year
Mars is in Leo and rises toward 3 O'Clock
in the evening. Since the distance of this
planet from the earth varies very much.
II follows that its apparent diameter and
! brillianCy vary very much with these
great changes Of distance. No other OBJ
ject in the heavens undergoes such great
variations as Mars does. At times it
shines no brighter than second magni-
tude star; at other times, again II vies
with Jupiter and even with Venus. in
brightness. IN the year 1892 Mars was
very brilliant, and in 1868 it Will again
attain its maximum brightness Jupiter is
in scorpio, close to the boundary line that
separates that constellation and Sagitta-
RUS. The great planet acts as a morning
star until the end OF June, and as it rises
early enough in the morning it may he
seen by early risers. Saturn is in Sagit-
taruius and rises about an hour later than
Jupiter Uranus is in ScoTpio and Nep-
tune in Taurus.
IN the course of the year there will be
two ecllPses of the sun, one OF the moon
and d lunar appulse. The earliest of these
phenomena Will be the lunar appulse, on
the Sd Of May It sometimes happens that
the moon merely Fasses through the pc
numbTa without touching the shadow,
though coming very near II. This is call
ed an appulse, and such one will occur
on May ?. IN such penumbral eclipses, as
they may appropriately be called. the loss
4E fsA4 =.
make II necessary for the observer to pay
close attention to the phenomenon in CT
der 10 notice anything unusual On the
18th Of May total eclipse Of the sun viii
take place, though 1t viii not be visible
on this cOltiEeIt- The total eclipse Will
begin in the Indian Ocean near the south
east coast Of Africa, pass through the ISL
( ands of Sumatra. BOrneo, and New Guinea
+ and end IN the Pacific Ocean near the
northeast coast Of Australia. At Manila
this eclipse viii be deserved as partial
che. On October p a partial eclipse and
/ on November 10 an auDular eclipse OF the
sun viii occur both being invisible IN this
country The auuular viii begin at Sicily.
in the Mediterranean Sea, pass through
Arabia. ard. cutting eff a small piece Of
HiudustaE. pass through the Malay PENN
suIa and end at LUzou, in the Philippine
Islands
In the January evenings the skies pre-
sent a magnificent appearance IN fact.
the consultations which. in an earlier
hour OF the evening, pass our meridian in
January. February and March exhibit to
Us the most brilliant and interesting por-
ton of the heavens. Extending the line
which connects Beta and Gamma Androm-
edae by rather more than it's own length it
{ VIII terminate N 4 bright second ma gni-
/ tude star. called Alpha Persei or Algenib
This AlgeRib must not be. COMPOUNDED with
! Gamma Pegasi in the southeast corner of
! the Great Square Of Pegasus. which also
/ bears the name Of AIgeRIb. That Two con
spicuous stars ii two neighboring constel-
latIOns bear the same name is singular
and rather confusing. 4 very character
isJic confguration is the sU-calIed seq
ne1t of PeTseus. a curved line formed by
Delta, Alpha Gamma, and Eta with some
smaller stars, ccncaye toward the north
east and running along the line OF the
. Milky Way toward Cassiopeia
! II at Gamma Andromecae we bend the
: handle OF the Great Square toward the
/ east, we notice one CT the most remark
| able stars in the whole sky-Beta Persei.
/ or Algol-which with a few stars near II.
mark what is called The Head OF NedUsa-
! Algol belongs 10 that singular class OF
/ stars called variable. During nest Of the
/ tine IL is Of the second magnitude but va
/ rieS from the second 10 the fourth mag
niJude in about three and one-half hours
and back again in the same time after
which il shines steadily as a second mag
nitude star for two and Jhree-quarter
days. when the same changes occur. The
/ period OF the variability CT Perseus has
! been determined with great precision.
namely > days, 20 hours, IS minutes, 90
! seconds. Directly south of Perseus and
Amiga Is situated the fine constellation OF
( Taurus. or the Bull the third of tine 20
/ diacaI consultations 1t is easily recog-
nized by the two clusters, the PIeiades
and the Hyades. and the first magnitude
star Alpha Tauri. or Aldebaran. in the V
shaped figure of tho Hyades.-s
! SIX OF the stars Of the Pleiades can cas-
/ liz be seen. and persons of keen eyesight
! claim to be able to see ten with the naked
/ eye With a small telescope a hundred
stars may be seen. The brightest star in
this remarkable group IS Alcyone, OF
/ which the noted German astronomer Mad
/ Ter. thought that II was the central sun
| about which our own solar system revolv-
! ed, an assertion that however. has been
disproved. Two stars northeast of Aide
/ baran-Beta and Zeta, of the second and
| third magnitude. respectively, mark the
/ horns Of the Bull while Aldebaran itself
marks one of the eyes. for which reason II
! is called the Bulls Eye Southeast Of
/ Taurus is the indisputably finest constel-
/ iation in the heavens, OF which, however,
we shall reserve a description for our
/ February article. as it comes to the me-
( ridian at about O'Clock in the evening Of
! that month.
Southeast OF Perseus a star viii be no
/ ticed far too brilliant not to engage the
| Observers attention al once and to be rec
/ ogliZcd as a star of the first magnitude.
( Pnis star is Capella, the principal mem
| her Of the constellation Auriga or the
! Chari0teer Capella. according 10 Prof,
/ Pickering. Of Yale University. IS exactly
as bright as Vega. both OF them being
! about one-ffth Of a magnitude fainter than
/ Arcturus bur distinctly brighter than any
! other stars visible IN our ATTITUDES except
Sirius itself. Although We have gained no
| exact know ledge Of the size OF Capella.
| there can prevail no doubt that il IS vast
l. larger than our own sun. Beta Amigae.
, or MenkalQan. of the second magnitude.
| is about 10 degrees east Of Capelia. Far
/ down in the East the most brilliant Of all
| stars in the heavens is Just risipg-gIO-
/ riOus Sirius. The bright constellation Of
| the Twins is approaching. the meridian,
| while aEOUt the middle Of the month Vega.
| Affair and DelphiHus have vanished from
the heavens and Cygnus and Pegasus are
4 on the point of setting
Lieutenant Commander Hall better.
NEW YORK, jan 1.--Lieutenant Com
mander Reynold T. Hall whose skull was
/ fractured by piece of timber at the navy
/ yard in Brooklyn over month ago, has