POPULAR ASTRONOMY. 



403 



and by February 27 this had increased 

 to fourteen million. The tail will thus 

 be long enough to reach past the earth 

 on May 18, when the comet is four- 

 teen million miles from the earth. We 

 will cut through the tail, but the story 

 of what we may see then will have to 

 wait till later. 



THE PLANETS. 



Mercury is at superior conjunction 

 on April 5, and will be invisible during 

 the first of the month. 



the planet. 



Jupiter has just passed opposition 

 and is closest to the earth and bright- 

 est. At the first of the month it is on 

 the meridian at midnight. The four 

 brightest satellites are readily visible 

 in a good pair of field glasses, and the 

 belts of Jupiter, which arc always in- 

 teresting to an amateur, are seen with 

 but a small telescope. On April 21, it 

 will be in conjunction with the moon 

 about midnight. 



Saturn will be in conjunction with 



Evening SkyMap for April 



APRIL MOON PHASES, 

 LAST QUARTER. APRIL 2. 

 NEW MOON. APRIL 9- 

 FIRST QUARTER. APRIL 1 6 

 FULL MOON. APRIL 2+ 



Column 



FACE SOUTH AND 

 HOLD THE MAP OVER 

 YOUR HEAD-THE TOP 

 NORTH, AND YOU WILL SEE 

 THE STARS AND PLANETS 

 JUST AS THEY APPEAR 

 IN THE HEAVENS 



SOUTH 



Venus is a morning star and for a 

 couple of days before sunrise, is a bril- 

 liant object. On April 23 she is at her 

 greatest elongation west from the sun, 

 and the following day shows half her 

 disk illuminated. When closest to Hal- 

 ely's comet, it will be ii° south of it. 



Mars is slowly getting towards the 

 west, now setting almost midnight. 

 The diameter has decreased to 5 inches, 

 so little of the detail mav be seen on 



the sun on April 16, and will not be 

 visible this month. 



Uranus will be at quadrature 90 

 west from the sun on April 15, and 

 Neptune is 90 east from the sun in 

 Gemma on April 6. It needs, however, 

 a strong glass. 



As usual the map represents the sky 

 as it appears at 9 P. M. on the first of 

 the month, at 8 P. M. on the 15th and 

 7 P. M. at the end. 



