THE STARRY HEAVENS IN OCTOBER 



20 1 



rapidly southward throughout the en- 

 tire month and finally reaches a posi- 

 tion nearly twenty-eight degrees be- 

 low the equator. Consequently it is 

 seen setting very far in the southwest 

 and always remains very near the 

 ground so that its extraordinary 

 brightness is hardly realized. Through 

 the telescope this world is now seen as 

 a beautiful and rapidly narrowing 

 crescent. 



Mercury reaches its greatest distance 

 east of the sun on October 15 and may 

 be detected, for a few days before and- 

 after this date, low in the southwest 

 just after sunset. This planet is, how- 

 ever, so far south of the equator that 

 the present elongation is not a very 

 favorable one. 



Saturn is in Gemini and just beyond 

 the borders of our evening map, for on 

 October 1 it does not rise until half- 

 past nine o'clock. By midnight, how- 

 ever, it is high in the heavens, and 

 throughout the remaining hours of the 

 night it is in excellent position for ob 

 servation. 



Mars is now lost in the sun's rays 

 and it appears much too nearly in the 

 same direction as that body and it is 

 much too far from the earth to be 

 satisfactorily observed. It will not 

 finally leave the evening sky and be- 

 come a morning star until December 



Uranus is in the constellation Capri- 

 cornus, a little to the west of Jupiter. 

 This planet moves very slowly west- 

 ward until October 18, on which date 

 it becomes stationary and then begins 

 again its eastward motion among the 

 stars. In consequence of this, its po- 

 sition in the sky changes but very lit- 

 tle throughout the entire month. If 

 the observer possesses a telescope 

 with circles, or if, wanting this, he 

 owns a good star atlas, he may readily 

 find this seldom seen planet between 

 the dates of October 16 and 21. 

 Throughout this time the nearly sta- 

 tionary planet is six degrees thirty-five 

 minutes exactly north of the star at D 

 in Figure 1. He may therefore accur- 

 ately mark its position in his atlas, or 

 he may point his telescope first at the 

 star and then carefully direct it ex- 

 actly six degrees thirty-five minutes 

 farther north. The planet when found 



will appear as a greenish star of the 

 sixth magnitude, but it will shine with 

 a steadier radiance and with a duller 

 lustre than a star. Its obscure shad- 

 ings and its four moons are only vis- 

 ible in the very largest telescopes. 



Neptune is in the constellation Can- 

 cer, and is therefore not seen in the 

 evening sky. 



On the early morning of October 15, 

 observers in the eastern and southern 

 states may see the waning, crescent 

 moon pass over the bright star Regu- 

 lus. The star will disappear at the 

 bright edge of the moon at about 3 130 

 A. M. and will re-appear from behind 

 the bright edge about one hour later. 

 On October 21 at 9 P. M. the moon 

 will similarly occult Venus, and on 

 October 26 at 2 P. M. it will pass over 

 Jupiter, but neither of these occupa- 

 tions will be visible from the United 

 States. On the evenings of these dates, 

 however, the moon and the respective 

 planet will be seen to be very near to- 

 gether, forming a beautiful figure in 

 the sky. 



The New Comet. 



The interesting new comet, which it 

 is hoped will become visible to the 

 naked eye, will follow the path shown 

 in Figure 2. It is very unfortunate 

 that this path, as may be seen from 

 Figure 1, remains always so very near 

 the ground. Telescopic observations 

 thus far indicate that the comet is fullv 



Figure 3. The Constellation Capricornus, en- 

 larged from Figure 1, to show the position of Uranus. 



as bright as was anticipated and it is 

 therefore strongly hoped that it may 

 become clearly visible to the naked eye 

 notwithstanding its unfavorable posi- 

 tion. In any event, it will be a con- 

 spicuous and interesting object in a 

 small telescope. 



