The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-28

 Is seen to be but little more than half full; the dark shading of it's surface as the boundary line between the planets day and night Is approached and the twi- light effect due to it's dense atmosphere are already becoming very conspicuous.
 Mars Is still quite high in the west, but its distance from the earth is so great that 1t is now an unsatisfactory object in the telescope. On July 1t Is little way to the east of Regulus. and like Venus, 1t is continually moving eastward, entering the western borders of Virgo by the end of the month.
 The observer will notice how very rap idly the brilliant Venus Is overtaxing the waning Mars. The brighter world will pass to the east of Mars on August 5; at this time the two planets will present the appearance of an interesting double star in the western heavens and will form beautiful figure for observation with a small telescope.
 Jupiter is little way due south from the star at A. Figue 1, and Is just beyond the borders of our even- throughout the night, however. 1t Is a conspicuous object in the southern sky.
 Uranus Is also beyond the borders of our map, almost in the center of the constellation Capricornus Saturn and Neptune are both morning stars, and are too near the sun to be well observed during this month.
 On July at D. m. the earth Is at Its greatest distance from the sun; | 1t Is then 3,100,000 miles farther away
 than when in January these bodies
 are nearest together. On account of this varying distance our northern winters are slightly warmer and also
 shorter than are the winters of the southern hemisphere. It Is natural to seek in this fact an explanation of | the reason why a greater accumulation of ice Is found around the south pole of the earth than occurs around the
 north pole. And as this ice, by its gravitating pull. must draw an undue proportion of the waters of the sea toward itself, 1t may be that this is the explanation of the fact that the
 waters are drained away from the northern regions, leaving, for example, the broken lands of northern British North America exposed, and submerg- ling the lands in the extreme south. And many believe that this varying distance of the earth from the sun thus affords a clear explanation of the | well ascertained fact that the earth lis. accurately speaking, eggshaped. the portion below the equator being slight
 ly larger than that above 1t.
 q The New Comets
 A comet was discovered on May IF
 which was almost bright enough te be visible to the eye, and which it was strongly hoped might become a con lspicuous object. But when it's patf labout the sun had been computed il was found that its great brightness at discovery arose only from its near lness to the earth. It passed neares
 us on May 20. and ever since tha time has been very rapidly drawing laway its brightness now being bu one twenty-fifth of that which 1t had
 at discovery. The path of this come
 among the stars is shown in Figure 1
 but 1t is now only visible in the larger
 telescopes.
 The last comet of 1913 will thi.
 month emerge from behind the SUI into the morning sky. During thi
 month 1t is moving quite rapidl, . through the constellation Aurgia, ant fit Is hoped that when it has with . drawn from the suns rays and entered
 Ursa Major 1t may become conspicu
 lous to the naked eye. This will hardl! . occur before August or September
 however. if at all.
 , The Spiral Nebulas
 The recent announcement that tn
 we'll known spiral nebula which Is sit
 uated at 2. Figure 1, was actually ob
 served to be rotating. will if con IlEmeus pOsScSS tuc 'cEy HtEucot pHilo
 sophical interest. While the maJorit, 3 of astronomers believe 1t probable tha these strange objects are true neb 3 ulous clouds within the borders O [ our universe of stars and that the 3 Iare each condensing into a central SUI g with worlds revolving about 1t, oth s lers vigorously contend that they ar t lnot true nebulas at all but are sta 7 clouds mmeasurably far away fror : Jour universe This recent, most import r ant discovery will not. If confirmed g disprove this latter conclusion. but 1