THE STARRY HEAVENS IN JANUARY 



269 



distance decreasing from 225,000,000 

 to 76,000,000 of miles, so that its appar- 

 ent brightness will greatly increase ; by 

 the end of the year it will shine with 

 three times the brightness of a first 

 magnitude star. 



Jupiter is now just leaving the bor- 



will be nearest the sun, their distance 

 apart at this time being only 91,338,- 

 000 miles. On July 5, at 4 P. M., this 

 distance will be more than 3,000,000 

 miles greater ; this will be the instant 

 of our greatest distance from the sun' 

 coming year. 



(luring the 



NORTH 



Sooth 



Figure 1. The Constellations on January 1 at 9 P. M. (If facing south, hold the map upright. If facing east, hold 

 east below. If facing west, hold west below. If facing north, hold the map inverted.) 



ders of our evening map though it will 

 not pass to the right of the sun until 

 February 24. It will re-enter the even- 

 ing sky in the east toward the end of 

 August. During the year it moves 

 slowly eastward through Aquarius, 

 following the path shown in Figure 1. 



The path of Saturn is also shown 

 in Figure 1. This interesting world 

 will remain in our evening heavens un- 

 til June 28 and will again re-enter them 

 toward the middle of October. 



The faint planets, Uranus and Nep- 

 tune, move slowly eastward through- 

 out the year, the former remaining 

 near the center of the constellation 

 Capricornus and the latter on the ex- 

 treme western borders of Cancer. 



On January 2, at 1 P. M., the earth 



The Recent Appearance of Encke's 

 Comet. 



This most interesting comet has re- 

 ceived unusual attention during the 

 past few months because its approach 

 at this return was a very favorable 

 one, carrying it high among the stars 

 of the northern sky. On September 



17, at which time it was first re-dis- 

 covered photographically, its position 

 in its orbit was such that as seen trom 

 the earth it appeared among the stars 

 in the position A. Figure 1. By Oc- 

 tober 1 it had reached the point B, and 

 by October 20 it attained its highest 

 position among the stars, at C. Seven 

 davs later it was nearest the earth, and 



