The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-08

az the moment when the deepening twi-
light will suffer the brighter planets to
become visible In the evening skies they
are 100 close to the horizon to be seen
az advantage. though 1t is possible that
the iuster of Venus will enable the OBJ
server to catch a glimpse of her, Mars
VIII be in Virgo throughout the month,
ana viii come INTO view on the edge
OF the eastern horizon between II and IL
O'Clock before midnight. The only two
planets that in the true sense OF the
word will act In the capacity OF evening
stars In the month of January are Jupiter
ana Neptune, though 1t requires a tele-
scope to detect the latter on account Of
MS enormous distance from us. Jupiter
10 In CaLricosnus and will set little
before 8 o'clock. while Neptune is in
Gemini. On the 30th Jupiter will be in
conjunction with Venus, bn which day
both Of these planets will be only a Sec
onds distant from each other. Uranus is
In Scorpio.
During the year 1908 there win be four
ecllpses. two OF the sun and two OF the
moon. or the two solar ecllpses one will
be annuar and the other total the for
mer occurring on the 18th of March, the
latter on the 10Th of September, but both
lunar eclipses Will be partial. the first
taking place on April H. and being partly
visible In this latitude; the other occarr-
ing on October .. but not beng visible
here. In contemplating the universe as
will pre-eminently imprint themselves up
on our minds-that OF its boundless ex-
tent and that OF the harmony and order
pervading the whole. In ascertalning
of the exact sciences all terrestrial and
even the planetary distances become
evanescent, and even such a stupendols
unit as the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Is, the
distance OF the earth from the sun--be-
comes inadequate as measure of the
spaces that separate the starry orbs from
us. For the sake of bringing these vast
spaces within the power OF our eompre-
hension. the unit Of light year Has been
introduced. Light Is the swiftest trav-
eier known, for II Is transmitted at the
rate of l6S000 miles a second. The dist
ance which light would travel within a
year at this wetl-nigh incredible speed is
called light-year and chosen for the
unit OF the measurement Of the distances
of the fixed stars and nebulae. Although
Alpha CentRuri, O. flrst-magnitude star,
in the southern constellation or Centau-
rus, Is no less than 3 liz of such light
years distant from US. 1t IL nevertheless
our nearest neighbor in the celestial
realm. Translated into common miles or
even diameters OF the EARTH the word
''neighbor" Is apt to evoke smile and
a doubt of its Appropriateness 1t cannot
but I'LL US with awe when, in looking at
the beautiful star Capella Eat present
high up tni the SKYE. we realize that 1t
taxes this star no less than seventy years
to send it's genial light to us, and that
were, by some stupendous catastrophe.
this mighty orb expunged out OF exist
ence 1t would nevertheless shine yet for
seventy years to come. Everybody knows
the Pole Star, but not many think Of the
tremendous distance of seventy light
years that separate this familiar star
from the terrestrial observer. II admits
OF no doubt that some of the nebulae- are
thousands of light years distant from
us, hut who can with certainty maintain
that the universe ends with these. how
ever distant they be? The question
whether the universe is infinite has FREE
quently obtruded itself upon the minds
Of thinking persons. and Is certainly an
extremely Interesting one, though a sat
isfactory answer Will In all probability
never be furnished.