Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-09-06
sEPTEM eER SKIES.
Harvest Moon and Autumnsl Equino'
Interesting Events Of the Month.

cording TO the ordinary division OF the
calendar. finds the consultations In
their positions, as of old. and the
bright planets Venus. Mars, Jupiter
and Saturn all conspicuous. Venus Is
seen in the early morning. the others
| in the evening. Mercury may also De
seen in the early morning, near the
middle of the month.
| Taking these five planets in the or
| der named-Venus rises on the lst at
1.54A M. and about two minutes later
| each successive morning. On the
| SOth it rises at 2.54 A. NJ. The sun
| rises half an hour later on the S0th
| than on the 1st, so that the planets
seem to be drawing nearer the sum-
but for more than two hours before
sunrise it heralds the approaching day
with it's brilliant light, and is the most
conspicuous star in the sky.
Mars is losing some of it's splendor as
| it hastens away from the earth. AS
| viewed by us, il seems to be moving
rapidly among the stars of the constel-
latiOn Scorpio, ard it enters the ad-
| joining group Ophiuchus in the course
| of the month. Now is the best time to
compare it with its stellar counterpart,
Antares. for it passes near 1t on the
| 5th. The comparison should take in
| three things-mOtion. color and bright
ness. In motion, Antares has only the
| common motion which all the stars
seem to have, by virtue of the earth's
motion around the sGn-:t steady drift
| toward the west of about L Il day.
Mars, however, a sister planet of the
| earth, adds its own motion about the
sun, and so moves very evidently
| among the stars. In fact, at this time
| it's motion toward the east nearly
| cOunterbalances the westerly drift
which it has in common with the stars.
It's motion is SO rapid as to be evident in
| two or three nights, when as now, it
| is passing near stars which make good
reference points for comparison.
The comparison with Antares in col
| or and brightness is not so easily made
| but is quite interesting. The two bodies
| do not differ very much in tint. and
| different observers might not agree in
| the comparison. Mars ruddy tint is
| due to the color of the chief areas of
| its surface. In the telescope these are
| of an orange shade, but their compress
sion into the minute surface which the
| planet shows to the naked eye gives
the color a redder hue. Antares' color
| is shownby the spectroscope to be due to
| the great strength of the rays in the
| red end of the spectrum. This must be
| interpreted in general as the result of
| it's physical condition, though it's pre-
| else explanation cannot yet be given.
| Mars changes it's brightness to
| greater degree than any other planet
on account wholly of it's varying dis
tance from the earth. When nearest the
earth it is very much brighter than An
| tarcs. rivalling Jupiter i'm brilliancy. A
| year later, however, when at its great
est distance from the earth, it is quite
| incOnspicuous among the stars, and is
| far inferior to Antares. This will be
the case in the coming autumn months.
| Jupiter is now coming into view in
| the later evening. 1t is the bright star
which is seen in the east soon after ten
| O'Clock. BY the end of the month it
| will rise at eight o'clock. 1t occupies
| an interesting position among the stars
| as it is between the Pleiades and the
| Hyades, two of the best known stellar
| groups. The red star south of it is the
| star Aldebaran. Jupiter is moving very
| slowly among the stars this month.
l
| twenty-fifth. when it begins to retrace
| its path. moving toward the west.
| This marks the beginning of the "op-
| position period" when the planet is in
| the opposite part of the sky from the
| sun. and is at the same time nearest
| the earth. For both of these reasons
| it is at such time studied to the best
| advantage.
| Saturn is now in the second half of
| its opposition period. While somewhat
| farther away from the earth than on
the twentythird of August. when it
| was nearest the earth. and increasing
| this distance daily. it is still in most
| excellent position for telescope study.
and the most interesting of all the
| planets in the telescope. 1t is in the
| stargroup Aquarius, and is the star
| which shines with quiet steady light
east of the Milk Dipper of Sagittarious.
Mercury begins the month near the
sun on its western side. At the time
| of the eclipse of the sun. on the Goth of
| August, it was near the limits of the
suns corona. 1t is moving rapidly a.
way from the sun. and before the 18th
| may be seen in the morning sky before.
sunrise. On that morning it rises 1
| hour and so minutes before the sun. 1t
| may be seen without difficulty between
the 10th and 20th on any clear
morning above the sunrise point about
| thrce-quarters of an hour before sun
| rise.
The two planets Uranus and Nep-
| tune, which are to be viewed with a
telescope. may be seen, the one in the
| early evening. the other in the early
| morning. Uranus is in Sagittarius.
| about halfway between Mars and
| Saturn. Its position on the 1st is right
| ascension Is hours 1 minute, declina-
tion go 42'. On the 9th it closes it's
| opposition period and begins again it's
normal eastward motion. On the 23d
it is in uuadrature with the sun, or 90
| distant from it.
Neptune is in Gemini. 1t rises on
the 1st at 1919 A. NJ, and is in right
ascension hours 43 minutes, and de-
clination N. % degrees minutes. 1t
is moving slowly eastward. altering it's
position about half a degree in the
course of the month