268 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The Starry Heavens in January. 



BY PROFESSOR ERIC DOOLITTLE OE THE 

 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



Throughout the past year one or 

 more of the bright planets could always 

 be seen shining in our evening sky, 

 but the year 191 5 will be far less 

 favored in this respect. The very be- 

 ginning of the new year is marked by 

 the withdrawal of Jupiter, leaving us 

 with only the beautiful and interesting 

 Saturn, and this planet will move 

 steadily westward, finally entirely 

 withdrawing from the evening heavens 

 in June. Then, for nearly three 

 months, no bright planet can be seen 

 in the evening, but by the end of the 

 year all will have re-appeared ; Venus 

 and Jupiter will then shine low in the 

 west, while Mars and Saturn will be 

 seen in the east, in interesting contrast 

 to the empty months of midsummer. 



In the new year there will also occur 

 the very least number of eclipses that 

 is ever possible. On February 13 and 

 also on August 10 the moon will pass 

 across the face of the sun, but at both 

 of these times our satellite will be so 

 distant from us that it will appear too 

 small to completely hide the sun. Even 

 at the middle of the eclipses the bright 

 edge of the latter will be seen, appar- 

 ently encircling the black ball of the 

 moon, and thus forming what is known 

 as an Annular, or Ring, eclipse. Even 

 these eclipses, which will be of small 

 scientific value, will be wholly invisible 

 in America ; they will only be seen 

 from regions of the earth southeast of 

 China and northeast of Australia. 



But the ever changing face of the 

 sky, as season follows season, and the 

 constellations appear successively in 

 the east, is filled with its tens of thou- 

 sands of objects of interest, and these 

 might well absorb the time of a stu- 

 dent of the heavens, even if the occa- 

 sional phenomena occurred more fre- 

 quently than they will during the com- 

 ing year. 



The Planets in January and During 

 1915- 



Mercury passes to the east of the 

 sun and becomes an evening star on 

 January 5 ; it will reach its greatest 

 distance from the sun on February 6, 

 and toward that time may be detected 

 low in the southwest soon after sun- 

 set. It will reach a similar position in 

 the evening sky twice more during 

 191 5, once on May 31, and once on 

 September 2j. The elongation of May 

 is by far the most favorable of the 

 three, for at this time the planet will 

 be far north of the equator and will set 

 an unusually long time after sunset. 



Throughout January, Venus rises 

 about three hours before sunrise and 

 may be seen at this time shining very 

 brightly in the southeastern sky. It 

 attains its greatest brilliance of the 

 year on June 2 and its greatest dis- 

 tance from the sun on February 6. Af- 

 ter this latter date it will approach 

 the sun again, not, however, passing 

 this body and entering the evening 

 sky until September 12. By the end 

 of the year it will set two hours after 

 sunset. 



Mars is far too near the sun to be 

 observed during January ; not until 

 April will it have mounted high enough 

 in the morning sky to be in good posi- 

 tion for observation. The motion of 

 this little world during the year will 

 be most interesting. It will run east- 

 ward no less than two-thirds of the way 

 around the entire celestial sphere, 

 crossing the equator in April, passing 

 through Pisces in May, below the Ple- 

 iades in July to the east of the Twin 

 Stars in September, and finally arriv- 

 ing in Leo. just east of the star Regfu- 

 lus, by the end of the vear. On May 

 t it will rise at 3 A. M., on Julv 1 at 

 2:30 A. M., on September 1, at 1 A. M., 

 and by the middle of December at 9 

 P. M.„ thus having entered the evening 

 sky. All through the year Mars wilt 

 be rapidly approaching the earth, its 



