The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-09-20
BEAUTIES OF THE
STARS AND PLANETS
Inhabitants of Jupiter Have
Great Chance to Study
Eclipses of Five Moons.

vi
How strange that the sublimest of
all spectacles the most magnificent of
all panoramas, should pass nightly be-
fore our gaze, almost unnoticed. The
poor, gaudy scenes of the street pa
rade, and the glaring lights and colors
of the cheap gallery, attract the Won
der and envy Of gazing thousands; but
the splendor of the starry skies, the
majesty and subiimity of the Vaulted
heavens roll nightly over us, unseen
by all save the philosopher, the mar
inerand the poet.
AS shepherds watched their f1ocks
by night on Babylonian plains, or in
the valley of the mysterious Nile, the
Swallowed earth offered no temptation
to their weary eyes; and so they
turned them wonderingly to the shin
ing stars-more dazzlingly beautiful in
that thin, clear atmosphere. The long
hours of patient observation were re-
warded by the accumulation of
mass of facts, wealth of of informa
ton concerning celestial objects and
their movements, from which we still
draw with profit.
Now as those observers of old did,
let us watch the sky closely for a time,
noting the brilliance and the position
of each bright star or constellation.
Before long we shall have divided all
the stars Of the heavens into two
classes-viz.. those which remain in
their places with reference to other
stars, and those which travel or move
from place to place among the other
stars. Those of the second class may be
called wandering Stars to distinguish
them from the so-called fixed stars.
OF course, it will be observed that,
in certain sense, all the stars in the
central heavens move in one general
direction; that is, they rise; move
westward across the sky, and finally
set in the west. But they all travel
together, keeping their places in their
several consultations from year to
year. And even their rising and set
ting is only an apparent motion, being
due to the rotation of the earth.
Wandering Stars Really Do Move.
But the wandering stars really and
actually move, and hence can be found
at different times in different constella-
tions 1t will be observed, however,
that all their motions are along one
narrow path in the sky, and in general
in the same direction, though they
sometimes seem to travel backward
for short time. This path, along
which they move, is called the Zodiac,
in the center of which is the ecIiptic;
and it can be roughly located by re-
Numbering that it is also the path
-,
along which the sun seems to travel.
1t follows, then, that the movement
Of these wandering stars is either east
ward or westward, but never north
ward or southwark more than a few
degrees from the Zodiac. When they
move forward the direction Is east
ward; when they seem to move back
ward for time, the motion is west
ward. Since this last motion is only
apparent, it follows that their only real
motion is eastward. And here it will
be remembered that the apparent daily
motion of the heavenly bodies, due to
the earths rotation, is always west
ward.
Morning and Evening Stars.
We shall not watch these wondering
stars" long until it will occur to us, as
1t did to the ancients, to divide them into
two classes, morning stars and evening
stars But perhaps the most surprising
thlngs about these bodies, We shall fail
to observe at all, as the ancients did, un-
less we have access to a telescope; viz:
that the socalled wandering stars are
not stars at all, but are simply planets;
that is, other worlds, similar to our own
world. though differing in may wonder
full particulars.
= And here the novice may ask, What
is really sun, shining by its own light.
but at such a vast distance from US, that
IL seems very small and faint, though
many VI lHSIn are muCh larger ana
brighter than our sun. A planet, on the
other hand. is a dark, comparatively cold
body, revolving in certain period around
the sun, by which it is upheld and sup
light and heat. Though it shines so bril-
liantly, 1t Is only by reflected light, Just
as the moon does, or Just as the windows
the rays of the setting sun. Ali its
brightness and glory, then, like that of
some human beings. is borrowed fnery,
and the sun has the credit.
If, then, they are not really stars why
do We continue to call them such? Be
cause. first, they look like stars, and the
uninitiated cannot tell the difference; and
many centuries before the telescope re-
vealed the difference, that the name is
stamped upon then and interviewer with
our literature, as many other things are,
so that it is now difficult to change it.
But their correct name will not matter so
much, If we can learn to recognize and
wonders. And truly they are veritable
Storehouse OF wonders, and those who are
hungr1ly searching for strange and Won
derful things will do well to come with us
for little WHILE and study them atten-
lively
Eight Planets In Solar System.
Including. the earth there are eight of
the large planets revolving round the sun
them in, or near the ecliptic, so that the
brighter ones can readily be found. Look
ing along the path traversed by the moon,
II We find bright body which, unlike the
real stars, does not twinkle much, we
may infer that 1T is a planet; and if, after
watching 1t few days or weeks, it is
found to travel. among the neighboring
stars, we may be sure it is planet.
When a planet rises at, or before sunset
SO that it is visible in the evening sky,
it Is called an evening star" If it rises
during the night, especially in the later
hours, 1T will shine in the morning sky
before the sun rises, and may be called
a morning star" AS these planets are
all travelling swiftly they soon change
from morning to evening stars, and vice
versa.
The ancients did not recognize this fact
always, and so gave the planet different
Venus was called Hesperus when evening
star and Phosphorus when morning star
As the planet moves on it's course it will
pass between the earth and the sum- or
pass behind the sun; and in either case
1t will be invisible for snort time When
it reappears on the opposite side of the
sun. it IS easy to imagine that it is a
different body, as the ancients did.
Just now the most splendid evening
star is the planet Jupiter, which shines
so magniicently in the southeastern sky
it is already up, and as soon as darkness
appears 1t may be seen in all it's glory,
and at the present time in very favorable
position for observation Sometimes in
deed. it is so bright that it can be seen
in the daytime.
Some distance westward from Jupiter is
Saturn, not nearly so bright, but still
very conspicuous object and one of
the finest in the heavens for telescope OBJ