The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-11
THE HEAVENS IN SEPTEMBER.

New York Times
The September heavens will be alive
with clustering consultations that shine
with renewed lustre in the crisp and
pure Autumnal atmosphere. Among
them may be noted the great square OF
Pegasus rising In the east. Low down
in the northeast is the lovely cluster of
the Pleiades. The three stars. Arcturus,
Vega, and Capeila, known as the north
ern brilliants, are especially worthy OF
observation, for they are all visible.
and opinions differ as to which is the
brightest of the trio. At the close OF
first third Of the mouth Arcturus Is the
brilliant red star near the northwest
horizon. Vega, the superb star high In
the north, nor far west of the meridian,
and Capella, will be found in the north
west, outshining its neighbors. The three
stars form together an irregular TRAN
gle. Low In the southeast at this time
a lone twinkler, partly obscured by the
vapors about the horizon, may be seen
in a patch of sky remarkably free from
any other bright orbs. This Is Fomal-
haut, the leading brilliant In the South
ern Fish. The most interesting and con-
spicuous of the star groups which may
be seen in the early September evenings.
exclusive of those mentioned, are dis
tributed as follows: The Northern Crown
is between Arcturus and Vega. west
of Pegasus, the great Flying Horse. 10
the Swan, North of Pegasus in Andro-
media, and still further north, Is the
Lady in Her Chair, or Cassiopeia. The
Lady Is at that time in the northeast,
directly east of the Pole Star. and the
Great Bear is consequently directly west
of that orb. The Milky Way, as a scarf
of pale white lights, stretches from Cas-
siopeia in the northeast though tue
Swan and the Eagle in the east to the
Archer in the south.
But planets and stars will lose their
lustre when, just after the middle of the
month, the almost full face Of the har-
vest moon shines in the eastern horizon
Just a short while after the sunset glow
has disappeared and rises slowly to the
zenith putting out the smaller stars.
flooding the sleeping earth with silvery
light. casting weird shadows over the
landscape, and painting, wherever moon
beams rest, pictures of ineffable lowell
ness that mortal pencil can never repro
duce.
One of the most interesting astronomi-
cal features of the month lies In the fact
that the sun reaches the equator and
starts of on his six months journey In
south declination. The Autumnal ecEi-
and equal nights the world over. 1t has
been found that there is slow retro
grade motion of the point of the suns
crossing the equator from east to west,
or contrary to the order of the signs, as
II the point advanced to meet the sun
on each annual return. To this pheno-
menon has been given the name of the
procession" Of the equinoxes, This mo-
ton is at the approximate rate OF de-
gree in III years, the equator moving
on the e"'~tic, while the elliptic retains
its posit =. lily unchanged among the
stars.
This peculiarly is said to be caused
by the combined action of sun and moon
on the mass of matter accumulated about
the earta's equator. In consequence of
this molten the longitudes Of the heaven
ly bodies are increasing. while on COM
pairing their ATTITUDES as found by the
ancient astronomers with those OF today
very little change indeed Is found. One
other effect of this procession Is OF In
terest to us, and that is its effect upon
the signs of the Zodiac, whose limits do
not now agree with the consultations
which bear the same names. For ex-
ample, the Sign of Aries is now in the
constellation of Pisces; and so on each
sign having backed" so to speak, into
the constellation west of 1t,
When the month opens the day will be
thirteen hours and twelve minutes long;
while at its close we shall find our day
light reduced to eleven hours and Atty
minutes, or almost three and half hours
less daylight than in June. The new
moon comes in on September 2, the first
ouartering happens on September >. the
full moon Is on September IL, and the
last quarter is on September "a. The first
of the planetary conjunctions comes on
the srd, when Mercury is visited This,
while the closest meeting for the month,
is by no means close enough to be of
any striking spectacular effect. Just at
present the chief actors In these attract
i've scenes are apparently inclined to
come to very close quarters. so there is
nothing whatever to interfere with the