The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1904-02-04
ASTRONOMICAL Data
For February, Furnished BY the
Ohio state University.

For February, Furnished BY the
Ohio state University.
The local mean time of sun rise and
san set.
February 1st. Sun rises ITO. Sun
sets 5:1S.
February 9Th. Sun rises 7;o3. Sun
sets 5:26.
February 18th. Sun rises 6:55. Sun
sets 6:35.
February 22d. Sun rises 6:45. Sun
sets 5:43.
FEBRUARY Goth. Sun rises e:35. Sun
sets 6:51.
MOONS PHASES.
Pull Moon, February lst, II o'clock
a. m.
Last quarter, February sth, 5o'clock
a. n.
New Moon, February 18th, 8 o'clock
an.
First quarter, February 23d, 8 o'clock
a. n.
CURRENT PLANETARY PHENOMENA.
Saturn comes into conjunction with
the sun on the LIST. Mercury reaches
its greatest western elongati0n on the
10th. The moon comes into conjunc-
tion with Uranus on the 11th, Venus
on the 18th, Mercury on the 18th,
Saturn on the 10Th, Mars on the 18th,
Jupiter on the 18th, and with Neptune
on the Goth.
The principle planets visible during
the month are Jupiter in the west as
an evening star, and Venus in the
southeast asa morning star.
The consultations visible during the
mon tn are: To the west Perseus; to
the south Orion; to the east Genimi,
Cancer and the two Leos, while Auri-
ga is almost directly overhead.
The brilliant constellation Orion
contains in its midst, just hidden from
the naked eye, one of the most won-
derful and at the same time most
beautiful objects in the entire heavens.
This constellation is very easy to
identify. 1t has the appearance of a
diamond shaped kite with tail of
three bright stars trailing away to
the south from the lower corner. The
middle star of the three stars forming
the tail does not look like the other
stars of the heavens even to the naked
eye. With a good opera glass 1t Is
seen to be surrounded with faint
haze or cloud. In a powerful telescope
this haze expands into large cloud
whose heecy whiteness, broken here
and there by dark riffs, reminds one
of those delicate cirrus clouds which
float, almost stationary, in the blue
sky of a summer day. Near the edge
of this cloud, or nebula as it is called,
glitter four points of dazzling light
stars like diamonds set in billowy
sea of light.
Examined with still more powerful
telescope this nebula in Orion shows a
distinctly greenish cast. This is due
to the fact that the light of this
object, when examined with spectre
scope, is seen to consist almost entire
ly of three rays situated in the green
part of the spectrum. Now If we ex-
anime with spectroscope the light
sent out by bodies on the earth, we
find that only gases sent out few
isolated rays and that all solids, when
luminous, send out an, almost Infinite
number. In view of this fact we must
conclude that the Orion nebula is an
enormous mass of glowing gas, or
rather collection of glowing gasses.
Among those hydrogen takes prom
inent place, but the place of honor is
given to a green ray whose origin re-
mains unknown.
This object is the best and most
beautiful specimen of a large class.
The cluster of the Pleiades is found
to be immersed in a great sea of ex-
tremely faint nebulus light. Astron-
omers consider that this matter is the
parent material from which all else
is built. That through slow process
of contraction and cooling such masses
condense to form suns, which in turn
throw off rings that condense into
worlds. The Orion nebula, therefore,
typifcs the beginning. 1t is the ma
terial from which, countless ages
hence, through aslow process of con-
traction and cooling, will be evolved
a group of suns each surrounded with
its systems of planets, many, possibly,
the Abodes of intelligent living beings.
Visitors are received at the Emer-
son McMillin Observatory of the Ohio
State University on the first and third
Wednesdays of the month, during the
cOllepe wear. if the nipht is clear,