Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-05-02
THE SKIES IN May.
Baltimore sun.


will present the following phases: Full
on the Sd, last quarter on the llth, new
on the 18th, hrst quarter on the 18th.
She will be 10 apogee 90 the I'd and
10Th and in perigee on the 18th. At the
beginning of the month the sun will be
nearly IA degrees SO minutes, at the
middle about 10 degfees and at the end
nearly - degrees north OF the equator,
trarersing In course Of the month an
arc Of rather more than degrees north
declination. Ia the altitude Of Balti-
more it will rise and set 10 degrees %
minutes north of the true east and west
POINT Of the horizon on the lst, "a de-
grees 80 minutes on the 18th and rs de-
grees 30 minutes ON the last OF the
| m ontb, the maximum deviation being
b degrees AZ minutes, which will be on
the I'D Of june.
The planet Mercury will successfully
pass through the consultations Pisces.
Aries and Taurus, while Venus will be
the greater part Of the month in Aries,
but toward the end enter Taurus, and
then be quite near to Mercury.
Although this planet has ceased to be
an evening star IL can hardly yet be
called morning star. Toward the end
| OF the month we may catch q gil mpse
81 1t In the evening twilight. Mars is
IN Leo and at present the evening star
par excellence, since it will shine from
the moment when the evening twilight
permits the brighter objects 10 the
heivens to emit their light till about 9
O'Clock In the morning. This fms planet
will cons TO the meridian between Z
and O'Clock iE the evening. Jupiter,
having for come time acted in the
capacity OF morning star, is gradually
changing into an evening star. 1t will
rise between 10 and IL o'clock in the
even ny. II is still, like Saturn, in the
constellation Sagittarius. Saturn rises
but six minutes after Jupiter.
The question 10 always OF great in
terest what kind Of curve the path of
the moon In space really is. The books
say that it describes an ellipse around
the earth, and the latter also an ellipse
around the sun. Now, whenever a
body revolyes about center, while
that center itself is 10 motion, tho body
describes kind of curve called an
epioycloid. The moon s path about the
sun is a waving epioyoloid. Since the
moon describes around the sun an orbit
at the mean distance of the earth's
orbit and IN the same time it must be
subject to tire sans. projectile and cen
tripetal forces. Ii the earth, therefore,
were to be snpihilnted, the path Of the
moon about the sun would not be ma
teriaily disturbed; the waves only
would cease and the orbit become an
exact ellipse. An erroneous notion en-
tertained by not a few is that the
moons motion is solely due to the
earth's attraction. In fact, the sun,
though incompsrably iemoter from the
luoon than is the earth exerts upon it
2ls times more attraction than the
earth does
Within the month Of May two phe-
nomens will take place: A so.cslied
lunar appulse, on the Sd, and total
eclipse of the sun, on the 18th. A
lunar eclipse is caused by the moons
entering into the earth g shadow, but
when the moon Just touches the earth's
shadow and passes by 1t without enter
ing it the circumstance is called an APP
pulse.
Nature presents no grander spectacle
than total eclipse OF the sun. That
occurring on the 18th OF this month is not
visible here even ms q partial eclipse.
The path Of the eclipse will begin near
the Island of Madagascar, pass In
northeastern direction through the
Indian Ocean, traverse the Islands OF
Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes and papua,
and end not far from the northeastern
coast of A Australia. The United States
eclipse observers expedition is to the
Island of Sumatra, and 1t sailed in
February from San Francisco for
Manila, 10 the Philippines, whence IL
proceeded to Sumatra. Important re-
suits are expected from these ex-
petitions, led by men of the highest
attachments and authority In such
matters. Persons not conversant with
the astronomical science may wonder
why necessarily expensive, laborious
and somewhat precarious expeditions
are gotten up to distant countries for
the sake of observing phenomenon
that lasts but a few minutes. We say
precarious, for the appearance OF
clouds over the sun at the brief
moments OF totality will bring all these
elaborate preparations TO naught. The
lessons, however, which careful ex-
animation OF a total eclipse OF the sun
impart justify expense, labor and risk
OF failure, and us3 in making few
brief remarks upon them. This interest
ing phenomenon enables acientists to
learn moie of the physical constitution
species of organic life here on earth
depends, and from which every kind OF
energy emanates that manifests itself
on this globe Everybody may be
supposed to know that the sun Is an
intensely hot body, hut even the most
powerful telescopes have never revealed
to us the two outer layers OF the sun
the corona and the chromosphere. both
Of which are visible only during a
total solar eclipse. Through the spectre.
scope we may see some of the details
OF the chromosphere, but the corona.
under ordinary circumstances, even the
most potent speotroscopes nave failed
to detect. We remind the reader that
the corona is the outer atmosphere OF
the sun, and, as far as it is known,
composed OF hydrogen. the lightest gas
known on earth, and some unknown
gas even lighter than hydrogen, which
has been called coroniun. Beneath the
corona is the suns lower atmosphere
the chromosphere, sheet of flame
many thousands Of miles deep sur
rounding the sun. The spectrosoope
has revealed to US that the chrome
sphere is COMPOSED OF the burning
yapors of more than 20 ais existing
here on earth and some others not
found here. This discovery Of the
substance of the chromosphere was not
made before the year 1859 by the cele. |
brated German physicist Kirchhoff,
and it must be considered one OF the |
most remarkable OF modern times. |
Terrible storms are constantly raging |
In the chromosphere, in consequence Of |
which tremendous MASSES OF burning |
vapor5 are frequently thrown I'M to a |