The Washington times., 1904-01-03

III Atit N1uASN VI AAAt AlOAlNAA VI Sdnu-
airy, 1904. the moon will present the fol-
lowing phases: Full on the Sd. last
quarter on the 9th. new on the 18th, and
first quarter on the 25th She will be in
perigee on the 4th and in apogee on the
18th While at noon on the 1st the sun
is still nearly % degrees minutes south
OF the equator. he viii move through an
arc OF nearly degrees declination in
course OF the month; and while on the
1st of the month the suns rising and
setting points in the latitude Of Balti-
more were 80 degrees q minutes south
CT the true east and west points on the
horizon they will have shifted de-
grees z minutes nearer to the latter
at the end Of the month. During the
year 1904 the minimum number of
eciipsos will occur two. both of the sun,
so that during the entire year the moon
will escape being eclipsed by the earth's
shadow
The highest number possible of eclipses
In any year is seven. and Of these five
must be solar and two lunar. This is
an interesting subject and deserves some
explanation. That there is not an eclipse
OF the moon at every fun moon and an
eclipse of the sun al every new moon,
the three bodies of the sun. earth, and
moon being in a straight line at those
times is due TO the fact that the moon s
orbit and the ecliptic are not coincident
planes. but make an angle of de-
grees with each other. in consequence Of
which the moon generally passes oppo-
sition and conjunction so far north Of
south of the sun as to avoid an eclipse.
The points where the moons path cuts
the ecliptic are called her nodes, and
the conjunction and opposition are called
by the common name Of syzygies- Now.
that an eclipse may occur at all, the
syzygies must happen near the line Of
nodes. so that, as the moon comes into
conjunction or opposition, some parts of
the three bodies may be in a straight
line.
Eclipse Months.
The ecIipses each year happen at two
seasons. called the eclipse months,
half a year apart. about the times at
which the sun in it's apparent annual
path crosses the two nodes of the
moons orbit. II these nodes were fixed
the eclipse months would. of course.
be invariable. but on account of the
retrograde motion Of the nodes at the
rate of I9 degrees 80 minutes each year
the eclipse months are continually
Changing OF solar eclipses there must
inevitably be two. while there are years
devoid Of lunar eclipses. the year 1904
being one Of them. Under extremely
rare circumstances there may be three
lunar eclipses. The last year when this
happened was the year 1881 The two
solar eclipses of the new year are an
annular one on March 16 and total
one on September 9. both. however. be-
ing invisible in this latitude
1t is an old and remarkable fact that
eclipsos occur at regular intervals of
is years and Il 1-3 days 90 1-S days If
there happen TO be five leaps in the
interval. a period which was called by
the Chaldeans. who knew it well. the
Saros. word which means restitution
or repetition" by means Of which that
ingenious people predicted the recur-
renee of these phenomena
Positions of Planets.
The planet Mercury viii be in Sagitta-
rius at the beginning of the month, en-
ter Capricornus about the middle, but
retrograde into sagittarius toward the
end. Venus will successfully be in Ii
bra, Scorpio. and Sagittarius. She shines
as a morning star. rising between and
5 O'Clock On the I'd OF the month she
will have her greatest heliocentric lati-
tude north: on the 18th she will be in
conjunction with the moon, and on the
2Sth with Uranus. being then less than
degrees distant from the latter Since
Uranus really shines like star of the
sixth magnitude. the limit Of visibility
for the naked eye he may be seen on a
cloudiess and moonless night without a
magnifying glass by persons OF fairly
good eyesight but. of course, appears at
greater advantage when viewed through
a telescope. Mars will be in Capricornus
during the greater portion Of the month,
but toward the end enter AQuarius. As
nc sets between z and o'clock In the
evening he may be seen lowering above
the western horizon for some time As
Mars will not be in operation during
the year. his satellites will not be visi-
bic. Jupiter is in Aquarius and sets at
first about 9:3O o'clock. but later on
little before g. On the 22d the great
planet will be in conjunction with the
moon, at which time he viii be little
less than degrees south Of the latter
Saturn is in Capricornus and sets be-
tween and o'clock in the evening
Nebular Hypothesis.
Even an enthusiastic adherent of the
nebular hypothesis must needs admit
that the proof of that great theory
does not and probably never will enjoy
the absolute exactitude and rigor Of
geometrical proposition; yet enough evil
dence can be adduced for It's truth. at
least in it's general features, to satisfy
the most skeptical mind. II is scarcely
necessary TO say here that there has
been more than one doctrine, the truth
of which IS implicitly believed in. al
though II certainly cannot be brought
within the rigorous limits Of a mathe-
Taatically demonstrable theoTem.
One OF the evidences Of this famous
system Of cosmogony is the fact that
three men Of the very highest mental en-
dovments-Kant. the philosopher; La
place. the mathematician, and Herschel,
the keen observer OF the keavens-ar-
rived at its general features indepen-
IDENTIFY Of each other and by methods
vnstly different from one another. But
there is stronger evidence. Ali the
pIanets-the eight large ones and the 800
and more smaller ones-revolve in the
same direction about the sun in orbits
the planes Of which differ but little
from the plane Of the ecliptic; and the
second in size of these planets. Saturn.
by his beautiful ring system, furnishes
H.