THE STARRY HEAVENS IX AUGUST 



121 



From the northwestern part of the 



United States a very little of this 



eclipse can be seen, but from the 



greater part of our country it will un- 



unately be wholly invisible. 



The Motions of the Planets. 



The motions of the very bright plan- 

 ets which are visible during the pres- 

 ent month are also of unusual interest. 

 Low in the southeast, Jupiter now 



planet. On the evening of August 5, 

 the two planets will be nearer together 

 and will then make a remarkably close 

 approach. The observer should not 

 fail i" examine them at this time. He 

 will see the brilliant Venus due north 

 of the red planet and separated from it 

 by a distance equal to but one-third of 

 the apparent diameter of the moon. 

 Even to the naked eye the two ob- 



it- J. The total solar eclipse of August 21. The path of the shadow is AHMB. 

 within (he area DCRSKN, the eclipse will be seen as a partial eclipsi 



Elsewhere, 



shines with its steady, golden radi- 

 ance, this greatest of all the planets 

 having entered the evening sky to re- 

 in with us throughout the remain- 



der of the year. 



-Ah 



the months go by 



the observer will notice how the sun, 

 in the course of its eastward journey 

 along the path B V M, Figure i, will 

 draw ever nearer Jupiter, so that each 

 evening the planet will be seen a little 

 ;er in the at sunset. By De- 



cember 31, the two bodies will be 

 d so near together that the planet 

 will be seen in the western heavens; 

 it will then follow the sun by only two 

 rs, instead of by nearly thirteen 

 at the present time. 

 'he most interesting part of the 

 lanetary observations is now 

 undoubtedly found in the west. Here 

 the observer will see the very brilliant 

 Venn and the far fainter Mars, both 

 in tl reme western borders of the 



I tellation of the Virgin and 



I up from the ground a short 

 it. 

 O t 1, Venus is a consider- 



abL to the and north of 



planets are moving rapidly 

 t as the motion of Venus 

 wice as ra] ' that i »f Mars 



i -lore distant 



jects will thus form a striking- 

 figure, but in a small telescope the 

 view will be much more interesting. 

 Both planets wall be seen in the held 

 at once and both of them will ap 

 but little more than half full, the half 

 disc of the silvery Venus having a 

 diameter about four times as great as 

 that of the reddish Mars. 



Throughout the remainder of the 

 month, both worlds will remain in 

 Virgo; by August 31 Mars will have 

 traversed about one-third, and Venus 

 two-third;-, of this constellation. On 

 August 30, Venus will pass due north 

 of the bright, bluish star, Spica, (at A, 

 Figure 1) being separated from the 

 star by a distance about equal to the 

 apparent diameter of the moon. The 

 planet then shines with seventy-five 

 times the brightness of the first mag- 

 nitude star. 



Mercury is at its greatest western 

 elongation on August 5, and may then 

 be seen low in the northeast for about 

 an hour before sunrise. This planet 

 again enters the evening sky on Aug- 

 ust 30 but does not reach its greatest 

 distance east of the sun until October 

 10. 



Saturn and Neptune are also morn- 

 ; near the sun to 



