POPULAR ASTRONOMY. 



443 



PoPui&n.ftsn^oMic 



THE HEAVENS IX MARCH. 



BY GARRETT P. SERVISS, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



The chart, as usual, represents the 

 appearance of the heavens at 9 P. M. 

 on the first of the month, 8 P. M. on 

 the 15th, and 7 P. M. on the 31st. 



This month Jupiter holds practically 

 sole possession of the evening" sky. 

 Saturn, it is true, may be seen very 

 early in the evening, low in the west, 

 but he is too near the sun for satisfac- 

 tory observation. All the other planets, 

 with the exception of Neptune, in 

 Gemini, are morning" stars. Neptune 

 is only visible, under any circum- 

 stances, with a telescope. Thus Jupi- 

 ter reigns without a rival. Having 

 passed the point of opposition to the 

 sun at the end of February, Jupiter 

 is now in the best position for observa- 

 tion, and can be seen during the whole 

 night. On the first of the month he 

 rises about 6 P. M. and sets about 6 

 A. M. Those who have telescopes 

 will find unceasing pleasure in watch- 

 ing his great colored belts and his 

 four principal moons, whose motions 

 are sufficiently rapid to be remarked 

 in the course of a few hours. The 

 eclipses of these moons by Jupiter's 

 shadow, and the transits of their own 

 shadows across the face of the great 

 planet, like round dots of ink, are 

 among the most interesting phenom- 

 ena that small telescopes reveal. It is 

 now known that Jupiter has no less 

 than eight moons, there being four 

 very minute ones in addition to the 

 four large ones which have been known 

 since the time of Galileo. The first 

 of the four little moons was discovered 

 by Prof. E. E. Barnard in 1892, and 

 the last just a year ago at Greenwich. 

 The latter has recently been photo- 

 graphed at Greenwich, and all doubt 

 as to its being a true satellite of Jupiter 



has been set at rest. It is a very 

 extraordinary body, too small to be 

 accurately measured with our means, 

 and travelling in a very eccentric orbit, 

 at an enormous distance from its mas- 

 ter planet. This distance varies from 

 ten to twenty million miles! Last Au- 

 gust it was nearest to Jupiter ; next 

 September it will be at its greatest 

 distance, its period of revolution being 

 about two years and two months. An- 

 other extraordinary fact about this 

 strange little satellite is that it revolves 

 in a retrograde direction, that is to say, 

 contrary to the direction pursued by 

 all the other satellites of Jupiter. This 

 peculiarity it shares with the most dis- 

 tant satellite of Saturn, which is also 

 a recent discovery, Saturn now being 

 known to have ten moons. The retro- 

 grade motion of these two bodies has 

 been thought by some astronomers to 

 indicate that they were originally as- 

 teroids which have been captured by 

 the attraction of Jupiter in the one case 

 and by Saturn in the other. 



THE STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS. 



The western half of the heavens is 

 now the most brilliant. At the hours 

 represented by the chart Orion is seen 

 far west of the meridian with Capella 

 over his head, Taurus above him to- 

 ward the northwest, and Sirius follow- 

 ing him in the south. Procyon in Can- 

 is Minor, and the Twins in Gemini, 

 are seen a little west of the meridian. 

 The Milky Way seems to rise from 

 the middle of the southern horizon, 

 passing through Argo Navis, then be- 

 tween Sirius and Procyon, between 

 Orion and Gemini, between Taurus 

 and Capella, through Perseus and 

 Cassiopeia, the latter being now low 

 down in the northwest, and finally 

 dipping behind the northern horizon, 

 almost under the Pole Star. The Great 



