The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-11

ioyeilness OF the harvest moon. On Sep
tember Uranus and the moon are 1t
their closest for the month. followed on
September Il by Saturn. Jupiter's turn
comes on September IA. while there Is not
another meeting until september "a.
when Neptune plays minor part. On
September q Mars and Luna are In line.
the monthly annals closing on the last
day of the month with an interview be-
tween Venus and our satellite.
Mercury, having recently been In con-
junction with the sun, IL now hurrying
along the eastern half of his swing. He
will reach the extreme eastcrly end Of
his tether on September "a
This is one of the few times during
the year when we can see Mercury. II
we look some II degrees or so to the left
Of the sunset point we shall be able to
see a white star shining there az soon as
darkness has settled sufficiently to adj
init of our seeing the stars. AS Mef-
curry IL only hour and "a minutes be-
hind the sun In setting, we shall not
have on an average more than three
quarters of an hour to see his face.
Throughout the month, therefore. Mer-
curry is an evening star. Uranus, on Sep
TENDER 10, arrives at the halfway house
on his way toward conjunction with the
sun. So we shall have that planet as an
evening star for some little time yet,
as the date for conjunction II not until
December. The weight of Uranus has
been found to be fifteen times that OF
the earth. and we are Indebted to the sat-
elites for this information. A planet IL
always tending to pull its satellites down.
and the satellite Is kept from falling by
the speed with which It revolves. The
speed with which the satellites Of IRA
nus revolve afford a measure Of the mass
of the planet/ Were Uranus heavier
than he is his satellites would revolve
more quickly than they do; were he
lighter then their movement would con-
sumo a lensthier interval.
Jupiter. since his glorious appearance
when in the early August evenings he
was in opposition with the sun, is still
the most conspicuous Of all the evening
stars. and his briIlianoy does not seem
one bit dimmed. Between now and the
end of the year he loses about one-quar-
ter Of his diameter, as 1t is at present.
but he remains the chairman Of the
meeting whenever the evening stars come
together for the rest of the year.
Neptune and the moon are in conjunc-
27 the planet is in uuadrature with the
sun on its way toward the point of OPP
position with that luminary. Besides
these two events there is nothing of
note for the month in which the planet
has a part
Mars Is one Of the morning stars, and
is quietly hiding his time so that when
few years from now he is in favor
able position TO be observed he will have
the scientists by the ears proving or dis
proving each others theories regarding
his canals. One often wonders II the
Martians are equally interested in our
canal questions. II thew must he
pretty well perplexed as to which route
we should take in Joining our two oceans
Venus Is still a morning star. but having
passed through a somewhat trying sea-
son. already looks a BIT faded from the
lovely radiant orb we saw some months
ago. She now rises only one and a half
hours before the sun. so we cannot
have as much Of a look at her as we
were permitted earlier in the season.