The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-05-01

favorable to warrant attempts to obnerve it, particularly by those who have never glimpsed this elu- sive object. At sunset on the 26th, the planet will be only about twen- ty degrees above the horizon and the sky will not be dark even by the time 1t sets. Excellent atmos- pheric conditions, cloudness hori- zon, are required and field glass or small telescope will be of some assistance. From the goth of the month to June 1 will be the time to attempt this observation.
 Venus continues it's career as an evening star which culminates with its time of greatest brilliancy next August. It is now we'll above the horizon at sunset and visible i nthe west till after map-time. It Is the beautiful brilliant object one cannot help noticing in the west ern sky in the early evening and is the brightest celestial body of the night when the moon is absent. Study it with small glass and you will see that it is crescent-shaped and continued study will show that the crescent is getting larger Tn outline but narrower and narrower in phase, like moon waning from last quarter to new moon. The fact that Venus shows phases was or course not known to the pre-tele- scopic astronomers.
 Mars Passes Opposition
 Mars has passed through it's op- position and also through its clos est approach to the earth, both or which took place early in April, but it is still a fine object in Vir- go. Its stellar magnitude is min us 0.6" which means that right now 1t is brighter than any fixed star ever visible from these lati- tudes with the exception of Sirius. The apparent brightness of Mars however, Is gradually decreasing as it moves further away from the death.
 This is a fine month for the ob- servation of Jupiter which will De found in the southeastern quarter of the sky in the constellation oI Libra. There are no very brignt stars in it's immediate vicinity ana it surely dominates the eastern sky as it's altitude increases. All month Jupiter will have a brightness or about minus 2" which means that if is brighter than any fixed star. Sirius not excepted, and exceeded only by Venus among the planets. On the 9th, Jupiter is in oppos1- ton to the sun, rising as the latter sets and thus shining all night. While Venus owes it's great bril- liancy to it's proximity to the sun and earth, Jupiter's is the result of it's great size and slightly high CT refiecting power. None of the planets give out light of their own but are seen oly by reflected sun light. Jupiter is the largest of the planets having diameter about II times as great as that of the earth. Its volume or bulk is thus over twelve hundred times that Of the earth's but the material which it contains is not more than enough to form about three hundred earths. Of course, the so-called diameter is the diameter of the disk of the planet as seen In telescope. Jupiter undoubtedly has a very dense atmosphere through which it is impossible to see the probably solid sphere of the plan- ct itself. Thus the average dens- ity worked out on this basis Is much lower than the true density of the probable planetary kernel within the atmospheric shell. The earth's density is five and one half times and that of Mars is about four times as great as that of water. Mercury and Venus hnve denslties within thls range. where- as the tables give tho densltlse Of ssse superior planets as slightly own or even under in the case oF saturn, the density of water.
 Whlin the sun eontnins a th0u-