

THE HEAVENS 



369 



The Heavens for April. 



BY PROF. ERIC D00LITTLE OF THE UNI- 

 VERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 



Peculiar eclipse April 17th. Mer- 

 cury becomes a morning star April 

 15th. Many shooting stars April 20- 

 21-22. 



This, the second spring month of 



fortunately, neither of these eclipses 

 can be seen to advantage from any part 

 of the United States, and the first is, 

 in fact, wholly invisible to us. 

 therefore, not become entirely dark- 

 ened. 



THE SOLAR ECLIPSE OF APRIL IJ. 



The shadow which the moon casts 



TJDRTH 



SOUTH 



Figure 1. — The Constellations at 9 P. M., April 1. (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.) 



the present year, is ushered in by 

 the always interesting phenomenon of 

 an eclipse of the moon, and two weeks 

 later our satellite will pass between the 

 earth and the sun and its shadow, 

 sweeping over our turning earth, will 

 cause an eclipse of the sun. But, un- 



in space is of the form of a long cone, 

 but it is very much shorter than the 

 shadow cast by the earth. The dis- 

 tance from the moon's surface to the 

 extreme apex of its shadow is a very 

 little less than the average distance 

 which separates the moon from the 



