Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-06-05
THE JUNE SKIES.
The Suns Northward Journey-Posi
ton of the Planets.

will present the following phases: New
on the 9Th, first quarter on the 18th,
full on the goth, and last quarter on the
sSth. She will be in perisee on the 9th
and in apogee on the 18th.
While on the 1st the sun il nearly I'll
degrees, S. minutes north of the
equator he will reach his northenmost
boundary at 4 A. NJ. Oh the 22d, when,
according to the almanac expression,
he will enter the sign Of Cancer, but
| actually be in the constellation Of Tau
rus, close to the boundary line that
separates that constellation from
Gemini AT the termination Of the
month he will have descended but -
minutes of are from the point of the
summer solstice. on the 22d, the begin
ring of the season Of summer, the sun
viii rise ana set in the latitude Of
Baltimore 30 degrees, 80 minutes north
of the true east ana west points of our
horizon. the maximum deviation from
those points. For a while the sun $
motion in declination will De very
small since the angle which The ecllptic
makes with the parallel of latitude at
| the solstice is equal to zero, and the
! tendency of the motion in declination
at and near that point is toward paral-
! Ielism with the equator. AT the
equiuoxes the reverse takes place.
There the angle which the ecliptic
makes with the equator is the greatest
possible and equal to the obliquity Of
| the ecliptic itself, in consequence of
which the motion in declination at the
| eQuinoXes is very quick.
| The planet Mercury will be in Gemlnl
during the greater portion Of the
month, but will enter Taurus toward
| the end. Venus viii at first De in
! Pisces, but enter Aries soon and stay
within its boundary during the re-
mainder Of the month. She rises be
tween two and three O'Clock and acts in
the capacity Of morning star, present.
ing a beautiful object in the morning
skies Toward the east of Venus, at
tie distance of about Is degrees from it,
the planet Mars presents itself 10 the
view Of the observer. 1t is al first i'll
the constellation Aries, but will soon
| enter Taurus Mars will rise between
three ANA four o'clock. Since Jupiter
4 rises between ten and eleven O'Clock in
the evening. he Will 10 some extent
aGolm the evening skies. He is still in
| Capricurnus. Saturn, being still in
| Sagittarius, rises about an hour sooner
than his brother planet ana il about as
far from it as Mars from Venus.
Looking up at about nine O'Clock IN
the June evenings into cloudless sky,
we notice near the meridian 4 very
| brilliant star Of the first magnitude.
This star j. ArcturUs the brightest
star save Sirius that can be seen in our
latitude. 1t ranks as the fourth in the
whole list Of first-magnitude stars.
Although Arcturus viii not likely be
| COMPOUNDED with any other star, it may
| also be recognized by the large
equilateral triangle Of which it and
Spica i'll Virgo and Denebola i'll the
Lion mark the vertiCes. We may re-
mark here that certain lines judiciously
drawn on the map of the heavens form
! a better system of mnemUnics, as to
| the constellation ana the positions of
certain fixed stars than anything else,
| and we earnestly recommend it to the
student Of uranography. Arcturus is
the principal star in the constellation
3ootes, or the Huntsman. OF all the
stars the proper motions of which have
been detected Arcturus is the swiftest.
Northeast Of Arcturus ana also Oh the
meridian the beautiful constellation of
| Corona BOrealis, or the Northern
Crown. is too conspicuous not to en-
gage the gazers attention at once.
The striking configuratiou Of this star
group is that Of an almost perfect semi
circle, composed of half dozen stars,
Of which the brightest is Alpha, Of the
| second magnitude. 1t also bears the
proper names Of Alphacca and Comma.
| East Of Spica is the zudiacal constella-
ton of Libra, or the Balance. a rather
| inconspicuous star group, of which
| Beta ana Gamma are of the second ana
Alpha Of the third magnitude. Its
most characteristic figure is a trapezoid
| formed by the stars Alpha, Beta,
Gamma and Iota. Its proximity to
the brilliant constellation Scorpio rem
ders 1t more prominent than it would
otherwise be. South of Libra and like
wise on the meridian is the constella-
ton Lupus, or the Wolf, one of the fa-
nous forty-eisht of Ptolemy, ana con-
tanning a considerable number Of third
and fourth magnitude stars, though
being too low for any satisfactory
study i'll our latitude. Ursa Minor, of
which the Polestar forms the most i'm
portant and brightest member, is also
ON the meridian. While Leo~is -apidly
descending toward the western horizon.
the beautiful considerations Scorpio jill
the southeast and Hercules in the
northeast are closely approaching the
meridian. CAMS Minor, Perseus.
Auriga and Gemini have either set or
are on the point Of setting, ana Cygnus
and Aquila are just setting, Ophiuchus
is well up, and Lyra, with the brilliant
star Vega, is climbing up in the north
east. The vault of heaven is assuming
that aspect which Ne are wont to see
during the evenings on The summer seq