234 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



cember 31 reaching - the position indi- 

 cated in Figure I. Jupiter will remain 

 in our evening heavens, though con- 

 tinually sinking lower in the west, un- 

 til June 15, when it will be passed by 

 the sun and so become a morning star. 

 During the last six weeks of the year it 

 will again be found on our evening map. 

 Saturn will remain an evening star 

 until August 11. then to enter the 

 morning sky until within a few weeks 

 of the end of the year. Its path among 

 the stars is shown in Figures 1 and 2, 

 of which the most interesting feature 

 is the steady approach of the Ringed 

 Planet to the bright star, Regulus. At 

 the close of this year and during the 

 beginning of the next the two bright 

 objects will shine out as a beautiful pair 

 of stars in the sky, though one is so im- 



ing sky, rising only about two hours 

 before sunrise. 



Thus all of the bright planets will be 

 visible at the beginning of the present 

 year, and also at its end. During the 

 months of August, September and Oc- 

 tober, however, all except Mars will 

 have withdrawn from our evening map. 

 But this most interesting world, whose 

 rapid motion and changing appearance 

 are always so well worthy of study, 

 will remain with us throughout the en- 

 tire year. 



Phenomena of the Year 1918. 



Unquestionably the most important 

 astronomical event of the year will be 

 the total eclipse of the sun which will 

 occur on the afternoon of June 8. On 

 this date the shadow of the moon will 



Figure 3. Two drawings of Venus. The first shows the phase (or 

 shape") of this planet as it appears in an inverting telescope on January 

 1. and the second shows its phase on January 31. 



measurably more distant and of so whol- 

 ly different a nature from the other. 



Uranus, which long ago began its 

 slow upward climb from the Winter 

 Solstice, is still far below the equator 

 in the constellation Capricornus. In 

 the course of thirty-five years it will 

 have reached the constellation Gemini 

 and will then be in far better position 

 for observation than it is at present. 



The even more slowly moving Nep- 

 tune, which requires one hundred and 

 sixty-five years to complete its circuit 

 of the heavens, will during the present 

 year traverse the small arc of its path 

 from C to D, Figure i. It will pass be- 

 low the bright star at E on August 21, 

 but at this time it will be in the morn- 



sweep entirely across our country, 

 from the state of Washington in the 

 northwest to Florida in the southeast. 

 Within the path of this shadow the 

 light of the sun will be completely 

 blotted out ; from elsewhere in the 

 United States a part only of the sun's 

 disc will be covered. The shadow 

 will strike the extreme northwestern 

 border of our country at about 5 hrs. 

 5 min. P. M. (Eastern Standard Time) 

 and will arrive at the peninsula of Flor- 

 ida only fifty minutes later. At Phila- 

 delphia the eclipse will be a partial 

 one, only seven-tenths of the sun's 

 diameter being covered. Every reader 

 who can do so is urged to make the 

 journey to some point within the sha- 



