The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-29


 below the celestial equator and is so nearly lost in the suns rays that it l sets far in the southwest very soon
 after sunset; it therefore Is difficult to find at this time without telescope.
 It is steadily moving, however, both away from the sun and northNard
 among the stars, so that by January 3I
 1t has reached position but II degrees
 below the equator, and it then sets one hour and twenty minutes after sunset. The observer may have the pleasure Of detecting 1t at this time, shining low In
 the twilight glow, and having found 1t. he will see how it grows brighter each
 evening and mounts higher in the even l ing sky.
 The planet has now the form of a full
 moon in the telescope. but as the months of the year go by it will pass regularly 1 through it's successive phases, becoming | exactly half full on July and chang ing it's form rapidly to that of a nar-
 row crescent during the ensuing eight
 weeks On January 90, at 9 p. m., Venus
 will, in its eastward motion, pass exactly
 52 minutes south of Uranus, but except
 i'll the largest telescopes the light of the western sky will probably prevent the fainter planet being seen at this time. | Many other most interesting conjunc- tions will occrr as Venus moves eastward. Thus Venus will pass close to Mars on l
 nearer to Jupiter and finally pass this
 bright planet on May 25 and it will pass very close to Saturn on July ?. The clos | est planetary conjunction of the entire year, however, will be a very close ap-
 proach of Mars and Saturn on the morn-
 ing of october 24. when the former planet will pass within but five minutes of
 the latter one. Both objects will then
 be in the morning sky, but this inter- esting approach can nevertheless be we'll
 observed. since at this time they will 1 rise no less than three and one-half hours before sunrise , THE ECLIPSES OF 1919 There will be three eclipses during the year, two of which will be visible as partial eclpses- throughout the eastern portions of the United States The first | of these three is total eclipse of the | sun, which will occur on May 2g, but this l will be wholly invisible to us. The shad- | ow of the moon will pass across South | America and southern Africa, finally | leaving the earth just west of the Island | of Madagascar. This will be a most im- portant eclipse, for it happens that the | moon at this time wifs be so near the | earth that it's black disc will appear ap- preciably larger than the disc of the sun and hence the sun will be hidden for a | long time. Thus in South America the eclipse will last for nearly five minutes | and for somewhat more than five minutes In Africa, whtlesin parts of the Atlantic ocean It's duration will be no less than six minutes, 50 seconds. The shadow path is thus unusually wide and the darkness | at the middle of the eclipse will be un- usually intense. 1t is probable that sev- | eral parties will be sent both from this + country and from abroad to view this H important eclipse.
 On the evening of November we will l a pa al ,F hc | only about one-fifth of the moons diam- Fl eter will be darkened the lower edge only or our satellite will pass within the great III shadow of the earth.
 Finally, on the morning of November 22. observers in tho eastern part of the United States will see an interesting partial eclipse of the sun, which in lower attitudes will be visible as an annular eclipse. In the Mississippi valley the eclipse will be half over at sunrise while iE Montana, Washington and California the entire eclipse will be over by sun. risc and so will be wholly invisible from these regions.
 THE STARS IN JANUARY
 Not only, as was stated above, does this month witness the entrance of Sat- urn into our evening sky, but it is also signalized by the appearance of Leo | which is the very last of the long train Of winter groups of stars. These bright | II ccnstellations now fill the whole southern | heavens from somewhat west of the me- ridian to the eastern horizon. Az the months go by they will steadily move to- | | ward the west, but not until April will ! they begin to withdraw from our evening | sky.
 The possessor of a small telescope K sfould not fail to examine the little clus- 1 ter of stars in Cancer, at the point E. i Figure 1. This will be found to be com. posed of about 150 stars of magnitudes | rom six to- seven to ten, thourh the 'tellar character of the Little Cloud is lot evident except in the telescope The planet Jupiter will this year pass throueh his little cloud. but unfortunately this interesting event will not occur until late n August, when Jupiter Is in the morn ng sky and very nearly lost In the rays If the sun. The star at F. below and to the right 'f the cluster, is a very celebrated triple tar system which may be seen as . HI louble in small telescope. It is known iI hat these three distant suns are re. 'olving about one another, s-nd it Is sus- ,ected that this interesting system is U hanging in color, and also that the mo- ion Of the distant star is disturbed by he pull of a dark and Unseen compan. on. But neither of these last has thus ar been definitely proved. H Tbe observer will notice how high the II eautiful Dog Stars, Sirius and Procyon, ave mounted into the evening sky, and e now also has an opportunity to trace ut the little known contradictions of | he Hare and the Dove. both of which re directly below the bright constella. Ion Orion. The two brightest stars of | he former constellation are interesting | ouble stars The colors of the bright st tat H. Picture 1) are described as H ellow and gray, while those of the com 1tu rr+11i ioyr wui ' re deep yellow and blue Tn the posi- on R. almost in a straight line with ,e stars H and l.. and about one-third lIa 5 far from the star at L as the star Fl there Is the celebrated variable star