122 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



be satisfactorily observed during the 

 present month. 



Uranus is near the center of the con- 

 stellation Capricornus, coming into 

 opposition with the sun on August 2, 

 but this faint planet cannot be satis- 

 factorily observed without the aid of 

 a moderately large telescope. 



Observing Venus in Daytime. 



Several letters have been received 

 from correspondents who state that 



val of time equal to the number of 

 hours and minutes by which the star 

 precedes the planet, when the planet 

 will be seen through the tube. Having 

 thus found its exact position in the 

 sky, it may probably be seen when not 

 looking through the tube. 



Thus, if we wished to see the planet 

 on the forenoon of August 13, our al- 

 manac would show us that at this 

 date the planet was exactly as far from 



Figure 3. At sunrise on August 21, observers r.crth of the line LMN will see a very small part 

 of the sun's upper edge hidden. 



during the past few weeks they have 

 found Venus, as well as certain of the 

 other planets and (in one case) a fixed 

 star, in the daytime. One observer 

 mentions having even seen Venus at 

 noon with the naked eye. These ob- 

 servations are quite possible, and are 

 always of interest, but they require 

 care and some trouble to insure suc- 

 cess. 



There are two difficulties to be over- 

 come, first, to protect the eye from 

 sunlight and from the general glare 

 of the sky, and second, to find the 

 object in the heavens. The latter is for 

 the amateur far the more troublesome, 

 to the possessor of a star list or a 

 star atlas both difficulties may be read- 

 ily overcome as follows : 



Select from the atlas a star at the 

 same distance above or below the 

 equator as Venus and note by how 

 many hours the star preceded the 

 planet in the sky. Prepare a long hol- 

 low tube of pasteboard or other ma- 

 terial and fix this in a position to point 

 to the star at some hour before sun- 

 rise ; leaving the tube firmly fixed in 

 position, and return to it after an inter- 



the equator as, for example, the middle 

 star of the Belt of Orion, but that it 

 follows this star by 6 hrs. 38 min. If 

 therefore we should point the tube ex- 

 actly at this star on August 13 at (say) 

 3 A. M., Ave would see the planet 

 through the tube at 9 hrs. 38 min. A. 

 M. 



Many telescopic observations on the 

 brighter stars are continually made at 

 the larger observatories in the day- 

 time ; delicate details on so brilliant 

 an object as Venus are, in fact, best 

 -cen when the sky is bright As the 

 brilliance of Venus will continually in- 

 crease from now until October 23, the 

 (.Mining weeks afford the best oppor- 

 tunity for making naked eye, daylight 

 observations of this planet. 

 The New Comet. 



The interesting comet discovered 

 from South America last summer, 

 when it was far south of the Celestial 

 Equator, has since been running rap- 

 idly northward among the stars and 

 drawing so much nearer the earth that 

 it is strongly hoped that during the 

 last days of the present month and the 

 first two weeks of September it may 



