The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-06-12
THE SKIES In JUNE
POSITION OF THE SUN. MOON AND
PLANETS.
Suns Motion In Observation-Disclosures Days
In Different Observation-Disclosures OF
stars And Causes--C CONSULTATIONS
During The Month.

Baltimore Sun.
In the course of the month of June the
moon will present her phases as follows;
Last quarter on the 9Th. new on the 18TH.
first quarter on the goth and full on the
27th She will be In apogee on the 5tn
and in perigee on the nth. the oecina-
tion of the sun at noon on the first day Oh
June will be % degrees, minutes sec
onds and he will enter the sign OF cancer
at n m. of the 21st. at which precise
moment the season of summer begins. the
sun having reached his highest northern
position, viz, % degrees. 81 minutes. which
IA equal to the so-called obliquity OF the
ecliptic The obliquity of the ecliptic un-
dergoes a slight change. 1t Is az present
"a minutes less than it was 1000 years
ago and is still decreasing ABOUT one i
of a second year 1t has been calcu-
lated that this diminution will continue
for about $4,000 years. reducing the OBJ
Iiquity to 22A degrees. when 1t viii pegin
~ Increase, The whole change, according
to John Herschei, can never exceed about
1 degree 20 minutes on each side OF the
mean It is worthy of mention that the
ancients determined this maximum declina-
t,on of the sun BY means of, a .gnomon, the
simplest instrument imaginable. as it con-
sists merely of a vertical shaft or column
erected on a perfectly horizontal plane
The observation consisted in noting the
length of the shadow cast at noon at GER
tain times or the year Ine ieusth VI Ihe
shadow ct noon on the days when the
sun reaches bis maximum declination at
the solstices determines the zenith dis
lance of the sun, and the difference
of the zenith distances at the two solstices
is twice the angle desired. 1t is an in
teresting fact that the Chinese made an
observation of this kind 1000 years before
the beginning of the Christian era, and the
result given is very nearly what it should
have been at that time. 1t is, therefore,
by far the oldest of all astronomical rec
ords while in our latitude the longest
day---June 21--is about is hours. it Is "a
hours on the Arctic Circle, so that for the
inhabitants of those regions the sun on that
day will Just Craze the horizon, but instead
of setting below it rises up again, thus
presenting the interesting phenomenon of
the midnight sun. From the Arctic Circle
northward the length of the longest day
changes very rapidly, being one month in
the latitude CT 81 degrees "a minutes, two
months at So degrees So minutes. three
months at 70 degrees 40 minutes four
months at rs degrees IL minutes, five
months at 81 degrees minutes and six
months at the Pole.
While Mercury will be in Taurus during
the greater portion of June. entering Gem
mi near. It's close. Venus will successfully
be in Aries, Taurus and Gemini. She will
shine as a morning star, rising few min
utes after O'clock; but as at the moment
of her rising the morning twilight will
have begun to irradiate the skies. Venus will
not present the brilliance she otherwise
would display. Mars viii he near Venus
throughout the whole month and be in