Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-01-03

it vies with Jurit and even with
Venus, 10 brightness. In the year
1899 Mars was very brilliant, and 10
1909 it will again attain its maximum
brightness. Jupiter is in Scorpio, close
Tor the bounda line that separates
that constellation and Sagittarius.
The great planet acts as a morning
star until the end of June, and, rs ii
rises early enough in the morning, it
may be seen by early risers. Saturn is
in Sagitiarius and rises about an hour
later than Jupiter. Uranus is in
Scorpio and Neptune in Taurus.
In the course of the year there will
be Two eclipses of the sun, one Of the
moon and lunar appulse. The earliest
OF these phenomena will be the lunar
appulse, on the I'd OF May. 1t some
times happens that the moon merely
passes through the penumbra without
touching the shadow, though coming
very near it. This is called an aIpulse,
and such one will occur on May Sd,
f. 10 such penumbral eclipses, as they
may appropriately be called, the loss OF
light ia 60 gradual and so slisht as to
make it necessary for the observer to
pay close attention to the phenomenon
in order to notice anything unusual.
On the 18th of May total eclipse Of
the sun will take place, though it will
not be visible on this continent. The
total eclipse will begin in the Indian
Ocean near tho southeast coast Of
Africa, pass through the islands of
Sumatra, Borneo and New Guinea ard
end 10 the Pacific Ocean near the
northeast coast of Australia. At Manila
this eclipse Will be observed ms a Partial
me- On October 9th pa tial eclipse
and on November 10th an annuar
eclipse of the sun will occur, both
being invisible in this country. The
ann lar will begin at Sicily, in the
Mediterranean sea, ass through Arabia,
LGi, 0utsinS CT Z small piece OF II IL.
du1tan, pnss through the Malay PENN.
sula and end at Luzon, in the Philip
pine Islands.
Il may not be considered uuintcrest-
ing 20 mention an astronomical event
that took Elaee twice during the nine
taenth century, but will not happep at
all during the twentieth, viz, a transit
OF Venus across The sun s disc. The
last transit took place In 1882, and the
next will not occur before the 9Th On
June, 1904.
The new century will have % leap
4, years, whereas the old one had only "a.
: TIE reason Tor this difference is the
fact that 1890 was not leap year, while
1000 is. The new century begins on q
Tuesday and will end on Sunday, and
1t will have three Februaries with five
Sundays each.
In the January evenings the skies
present 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 portion of the heavens.
Extending the line which connects Beta
and Gamma Androm edn by rather more
than it's own length it will terminate in
a bright second magnitude star, called
Alpha Persei or Algenib. This AL
genib must not be COMPOUNDED with
g Gamma Pegasi in the southeast corner
of the Great Square of Pegasus, which
alsp bears the name of Algenib. That
two conspicuous stars in two neighbor-
ing consultations bear the same name
Is singular and rather confusing. A
very characteristic CONFORMATION Is the
so-called segment of Perseus,' curv-
ed line formed by Delta, Alpha, Gamma
and Eta with some smaller stars, con
cave toward the northeast and running
along the line of the Milky Way toward
CassiOpeia. If at Gamma Andromedm
We bend the handle of the Great Square
toward the east we notice ono OF the
most remarkable stars in tho whole sky
beta Persei, or Algol-which, with a
few stars near it, mark what is called
the Head of Medisa. A lgol belongs to
that singular class of stars called vaIi.
able. During most of the time it is of
the second magnitude, but varies from
the second to the fourth magnitude in
about three ard oDe-half hours and back
again in the same time, alter which it
. shines steadily as second magnitude
star for two and tbree-q uar or days,
. when the same changes occur. The
period of the variability OF Perseus has
been determined with great precision,
viz, 2'days, 20 hours, As minutes, ~.
seconds. Directly south of Perseus and
: Amiza isstuated the fine constellation
OF Taurus, or the Bull, the third nf the
zodia al considerations. 1t is easily
I recognized by the two cluste y, the
Pleiades and the lIyades. and the first
magnitude stur Alpha Tauri, or Aide
baran, in the V-shaped tigure of tho
ilyades. Six of the stars of the Pleiades
can EASILY be sean, and persons If keen
eyesight claim to he abie to see 10 with
the naked eye. With small trlescone
hundred starHH may be seen. The
brightest star in this remarkable group
is Alcyone, of which the noted German
astronomer, Nader, thought that it
vas the central sun about which our
wn solar system reVoived, an assert on
aat, however, has been disproved.
wo stars northeast OF A ldebaran-Be
md Leta, Of the second and third mag