The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1911-11-17
OCCULTATION
ALL IT WAS, YET
IT AMAZED Us
Venus, Luna and Mother Earth
Were in Line and Entire
City Rubbernecked
Professors Say They Were Not
Startled, but You Bet the
Italians Were

~ Of II as was represented by the
n population out of doors at the
noon hour yesterday, rubber
necked steadfastly at the western sky
and gazed in open mouthed surprise at
the pale silvery emblem of the Otto
man empire hanging resplendent
against the blue of the heavens De-
spite the brilliant glare of the midday
sun, there in the west shone the cres-
cent moon and just within the tip of
its lower horn was a speck of glowing
light which the astronomers later ex-
planned was Venus.
The throngs that gazed at the un-
usual spectacle did not know. for the
most part, Just what star it was that
had crept up to call on the moon at
such close quarters, nor why it had
the temerity to turn on its light in
the middle Of the day. while the sun
was doing its best to keep up its rep
utation off to the south. 1t took the
combined efforts of all the astrono-
mers in the bay district to explain the
phenomenon afterward. Also, it took
the combined efforts of the astrono-
mers to convince those who had wit
messed the staging of the affair that
such events are not at all out of the
ordinary and that an exceptionally
clear atmosphere was more to blame
for the event than any misconduct on
the part of the heavenly bodies.
Celestial Drama Observed
It really was a celestial drama that
was observed by earth dwellers in the
vicinity Of San Francisco yesterday, al
though in the italian quarter Of San
Francisco the vision of the Turkish en-
blem caused misgivings that were not
completely moIlihed until later cable
dispatches failed to bring news of d.
ssster on the coast of Tripoli. The |
astronomers treated the affair With |
some contempt, merely calling atten- |
tion to the fact that it had been pre-
dicted in the almanacs and remarking
casually:
.'oh, that is only occultation of the
planet Venus by the moon"
Those were the words used by Prof.
A. o. Leuschner of the students obser-
vatory at the University of California
in discussing what would have put
Homer into ecstacies, would have fired
the blood of Sappho and would have
called old Nestor from the Happy isles
to enlighten with his ripe old wisdom
OF age the fears and guide the adora-
tion of the Hellenes.
Venus Was Nipped
For the celestial event or drama as
observed from earth was a comedy of
! errors Of olympian proportions. Venus.
10 begin with, was seeking comfort, for
she was arkened-eclipsed, the astron-
omers say.
She turned to the gentle Luna, but
caused great trouble by paying this
consolation call in day. 1t should of
course have occurred at night, and
when the two got together in the west
ern skies Phoebus Apollo had not run
half his race He was in apogee and
. the day in meridian. So the god chari-
oteer had to hold his way to the west
and he had almost sunk below the
horizon before the scene ended. Mother
Gaia, whom decadent. mortals name
earth, was in the play too, but only the
astronomers knew that.
There were no really first class seats
available in California to see the per-
formance. The best vision could be
Ynad from Jupiter. 1t was as if the gods
OF antiquity were on review before the
mighty Jove, for when the drama
reached its climax Venus. Luna and
Earth were in a direct line.
OccuItation Not Uncommon
~occultation Of the moon,' explained
Professor Leuschner. lis not uncom
mon. The moon, Venus and the earth
we're merely in a direct line and of
course the moon and Venus were visi-
bic because the day was clear. They
are often visible clear DAYS al
though not often so close together. They
come into direct line with the earth,
however, at regularly computed inter
walls, which are listed ahead always in
the nautical almanacs. Venus or the
moon. or both, can be seen almost every
day from some part of the earth but
this Is seldom the case IN California be-
cause Of the murky atmosphere. This
was an exceptionally clear day.
Venus is one of the few planets
powerful enough to penetrate q mild
fog with its light, but the fogs along
the coast are usually too heavy to per-
NIT of this even. The conjunction of
the moon and Venus was in accordance
with their regular movements in their
orbits. The last time they were visible |
in daylight was six or seven years ago, |
but the same phenomenon has occurred |
many times when they were not visible /
on account of atmospheric conditions. /
The same thing happens with all the /
planets Of our solar system, but Venus /
has brighter light than others and /
IS more often visible in daylight from
the earth"
$1,000 - a. a. -,