Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-03-07
THE SKIES IN. MARCH.

lowing phases In the course of tho
month of March Full on the 9Th, last
quarter on the 18th, new on the Goth
and first quarter on the Goth. She will
be most distant from the earth on the
6th and nearest on the 2lst. From the
beginning of the month to the begin
ming OF the spring season the sun will
sweep through an arc OF s de2rees
south defamation. The exact moment
of the SUMS reaching the equator, or,
as the almanacs. have 1t, Of tho sun 8
entering Aries, though it4will be really
10 the constellation Pisces, is % minutes
past 2 O'CLOCK in the afternoon Of the
2lst day of the month. From this it
follows that the consultations of the
zodiac really begin with Pisces, and
not Aries, though 1T Is by no means
unusual in naming these consultations
to begin with Aries. At the end OF
tho month the sun will be degrees
north Of the equator and rlse and set
north of the true east aud west points
of the horizon, Rooms facing tho
north, having been so long deprived Of
the direct rays of the sup, will receive
the blessed sunshine, so genial after
the bleak season of winter.
The planet Mercury is ia the
constellation Aquarius, within the
boundary lines OF which it will stay
throughout the month The reason why
this swift traveller remains within one
constellation throughout O whole month
lies in the fact of Its being stationary
for sometime. 10 bear in mind that
tho planets, both inferior and superior,
in their motion around the sun as OBJ.
served from the earth have an apparent
progressive and retrograde motion, an
ID changing from the one to the other
sometimes appear stationary, is Of the
utmost Importance and quite easily
understood by anyone that realizes
that we see the planets as projected
upon the celestial vault, and not as
viewed from the sun, whence looked at
the planets would be seen describing
their circular orbits. Venus, during
the month, will successfully be ID
Capricornus, Aqrarius and Pisces,
and, as she rises while the morning
twilight IS far advanced, ahe will
hardly be noticed with the naked eye.
Mars is In Leo and shines nearly
throughout the entire night, coming to
the meridian, or technically speaking,
southing, at about IL O'Clock In the
evening. 1t is impossible to mistake
this planet for any other planet on
star, on account of its intensely red
color 1t is, with Sirius, the most
conspicuous object in the. nocturnal
skies. Jupiter is in Sagittarius and
shines as morning star, rising at first
between and O'Clock, but later on
before 2 O'Clock. Saturn, too, is in
the same constellation, rising almost
simultaneously with his brother planet.
Jupiter, the differ nce being only few
minutes. These two planets, the largest
10 the solar system, are close together,
the distance bong about that OF the
two Pointers in the Great Bear. The
proximity OF these two splendid D anets
renders the constellation Sagittarius at
present one of the most brilliant In the
heavens. 1t should be worth ones
while occasionally to rise early in the
morning to look at this fine star
picture. tA
Thereiis perhaps lin the whole range
OF the SCIENCE of the heavenly bodies
no more intrinsically interesting branch
than that which ffeAts on the forces
that keep these iniiumerable bodies in
their allotted paths. There is no
M sohanism here On earth, no matter
how ingeniouaIS Apd skilfully con-
triyed, (which IN grandeur and exaotness
can remotely be compared with the
mechanism we see displayed IN the
motion OF the stars, the sun, planets,
satellites, and all other oosnioal
hodies; and taking into account the
enormous distances that separate them
ftom us and the complioaoy which
arises from their mutual attraction and
the perturbation conseq uent upon this
attraction, 1t cannot. bat elliott wonder
and admiration that human ingenuity
has overcome difficulties which 10
former times, when the powerful levers
OF mathematical analysis and the space.
penetrating instruments now, at our
command were unknown, or at least in
"A very crude state, would have been
regarded as insuperable.
a highly developed system OF cos
mogony was'not TO be expected as long
as Mathematical analysis had not
attained the perfection which the in
defatigable zeal Of men who devotad
their lives to unravelng the mysteries
OF nature has accomplished within the
last two Or three centuries. 1t required
Kepler, Leibnitz, o Newton. a
I.aplace, a Gauss, TO render investi-
cations possible that eluded the grasp
uf oven the greatest MEN OF antiquity.
Without the higher fnathematieal
analysis as first established by -eihnitz
and Newton and later on developed by
q brilliant array Of thinkers and
scholars, We could and should not have
much improved upon the primitive
spotions Of ancient astronomers
The double motion OF planet, one
around the central body Of the sun,
and'the-othe about its axis, may be
explained as arising from one impulse,
and suggests the interesting question at
what point from the oRhtre this one
impulse must have been impaired to
produce both these motions. With
reference to the earth, as oan be found
by actual calculation, this point must
have been in line passing "a miles
from the centre Of the earth in order TO
mako 1t move around the sun in 365
days and about lis axis in "a hours.
One of the most diflioalt problems that
pr ssented themselves to astronomers was
the amount of perturbation which the
planets and the moon produce upon
each other, but in spite OF it's diff
eulties IT, has yielded to their TN
iremitting efforts, As to the so called
lunar theory, though astronomers arc
coulinuhlly NJ Wnrh ON ~ me pebt
tables yet made begin to give in
accurate results after 15 or 20 years,
and require correction. The almanac
place of the moon at present Is not
infreguently tout" as much as 8 or A
seconds of arc, /. e., about three or
-four miles, As to the planets, thar
attraction for each othor distarbs their
otherwise eliiptical motion about tho
sun, though the disturbing forces are
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