The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-02-15

lDfOLner ana sister WOflQS make lubtIUuS that part of the heavens where they chance to meet Jupiter is now seen close to that charming group the Pleiades; having been apparently set back by the earth's rush forward, Ju- piter may now soon be seen to be again picking up speed and working eastward in order to pass the Hyades, the great letter " east of the Pleiades.
 On the 2Oth, little Mercury, with the tendency. to mimicry displayed by children, repeats the performance of Venus in passing the sun on the fur ther side of this orbit, and so, like Ve- nus, passes out of the morning into the evening sky, and changes from morn- ing to evening star. Travelling much more rapidly than Venus, Mercury will overtale that planet on the 23d, and, were they not then so near the sun, the two might be seen exceedingly close, separated by less than the moons di- ameter. Mercurywill get out into view about the middle of March, when he will swing about to take the nearer side of his orbit and move back westward, and in so doing, will again meet Venus on March 27th, at which time, how ever they will be widely spaced.
 Saturn's disposition is such that, with all these planets crowdihg into this part of the sky where Mars and he have been for some time alone, he prefers other quarters; so, disgusted, on February "A, he moves out by passing the sun on the furtder side, apparently moving from left to right, from east to west, thus making his exit from the evening sky and his entree into the morning sky. This motion however Is only apparent; all the stars in that neighborhood are seemingly doing the same thing. It Is only because the earth is, as it were, moving past the sum- that, having seen Saturn on the suns left, we now behold him on his right, and the same is true of all the adjacent stars.
 Tn all this encouragement of the planets, it happens that Washingtons Birthday is scheduled for dies mira bills whose long program of events depends, however, not alone on the planets, but also oh the sun and moon. Remembering that the astromical day begins at noon and ends at noon, the program for February 22 is as follows:
 CD noon: Conjunction of planets Venus and Saturn, Venus passing west to east of Saturn, so close that the bodies, if visible, would seem almost to graze each other. CD p. m: con junction of planets Mercury and Sat urn, Mercury passing from west to east of Saturn, only quarter of degree apart (3) a, m. Conjunction of plan cts Mercury and Venus, Mercury pass ing from west to east of Venus only 1-3 of degree apart. (D 2::49 a. m.; (a) new moon; (b) partial eclipse of the sun. Intermission. (5) $40 a. m. Conjunction of the moon and Saturn, the moon passing from west to east of the planet less than a quarter of a de- gree apart, which involves an occulta- tion of the planet by the moon. (6) 7:21 a. m: Conjunction of the moon and Venus, the moon passing from west to east of the planet, their centers only two minutes or arc apart, involving an occultation of Venus by the moon. @ TAO a. m.; Conjunction of the moon and Mercury, the moon passing the planet from west to east, one-third of a degree apart Unhappily, neither ticket nor pull will admit to the above performance as, though real, it is all behind closed doors.
 An eclipse of the sun is mentioned as predict for February P, or, as we commonly reckon, February 23, at 2:49 a. m. It is apparent that the sun will be below the horizon at this time, and
 the eclipse will ve invisible to our eyes. This will be a very unimportant eclipse being only partial, the magni- tude of the greatest phase being 0,537 with the suns diameter equaling 10. The umbra or darkest part of the moon's shadow will be out in space, not encountered by the earth our sphere will simply run through a part of the penumbra or partial shadow, and where that falls upon the earths sur face one would, on looking up, discover lIlC ouIl 6 ltOO ptli Lihliy CONtIfu uN LIlb body of the moon as it reaches the new moon phase. As this happens to be in the Antarctic region, including the South Pole, 1t is safe to say that few eyes will behold the spectacle. But as it imptnges upon the southern edge of Australia and of New Zealand, some few will probably be conscious of what Is occurring
 It is often the case that an eclipse of the sun is accompanied by an eclipse of the moon, two or weeks before or after. The moon is always at the full when the sun by standing directly between the sun and earth when new, it is like ly to have been at, or to the same level, and thus to get into the earths shadow when full. Hence, on February and g we shall have total eclipse of the moon, happily visible 10 dwellers on tkis side of the globe. The moon en- ters the penumbra or partial shadow February 8, at 11:54 D. m, first before midnight; its edge reaches the umbra or dark shadow at 12:57 a. r1., February g; as the moon requires one hour to travel the distance of its own diam eter as seen from the earth, the en- tire moon becomes immersed in the dark shadow atj1;57 a. m.:the middle of the eclipse is at PAT a. m. the total phase ends at S:3e; the moon leaves the umbra at 4:S7, having taken ther e. quired hour to emerge, and escapes