T(^ KXOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 



235 



The Planets in December. 



Mercury passes behind the sun on 

 December 15. and will therefore be 

 wholly invisible throughout the month. 



Venus is steadily withdrawing from 

 the sun's rays and coming into better posi- 

 tion for observation. On December i it 



It is so near the stars R and S (Figure i) 

 that from even only a few nights' watch- 

 ing its westward motion may be clearly 

 seen. It will pass to the west of R on 

 December 27, though toward the begin- 

 ning of the month it will be seen far to 

 the east of this star. The rings of Saturn 



Figure 3. Two recent drawings of the Planet Jupiter. The borders of the faintly 

 colored bands and all of the markings are, however constantly changing. 



sets I hour and 20 minutes after sunset, 

 and this time is increased to two hours 

 by December 31. The planet must be 

 looked for far toward the south of the 

 west point of the horizon, when it may 

 he seen but a short distance above the 

 ground, shining in the twilight glow. 



During the last month Venus has been 

 moving very rapidly southward among 

 the stars. By December 5 it will be nc 

 less than 24V2 degrees below the celestial 

 ■equator, but on that date it will begin to 

 move northward again, and its northern 

 and eastward motions will conspire to 

 Turing it high into the evening heavens 

 and make it a conspicuous object during 

 the early months of 1916. 



Mars, though high in the northeast by 

 midnight, does not rise until 9 :30 o'clock 

 on December i and is therefore just be- 

 yond the borders of our evening map. It 

 is moving slowly eastward through Leo 

 and will be seen crossing the handle of 

 the Sickle just above the bright star Reg- 

 ulus. These two bright, reddish objects 

 so near together will form an interesting 

 star figure in the northeastern sky. 



Jupiter still shines brightly in the south- 

 west, in excellent position for observa- 

 tion. 



Saturn is slowly retrograding through 

 the middle of the constellation Gemini. 



are now very widely opened out and it 

 will be found a most beautiful object for 

 study even with a moderately large tele- 

 scope. 



The sun will reach the lowest point of 

 its yearly apparent path on December 22 

 at 5 hours 16 minutes 16 seconds P. AI. 

 (Eastern standard time) ; this is the in- 

 stant of winter solstice, after which its 

 northern motion will again begin. De- 

 cember 22 will thus be the shortest day 

 of the present year, this day (in our Cen- 

 tral States) being 5 hours 34 minutes 

 shorter than the ensuing night. 



Then, too, how wondrous must be 

 the colouring observed by the planet- 

 beings, if such exist, in any one of the 

 not improbable planets revolving 

 roimd sitch glorious suns ! How grand 

 the fairy spectacle in those belonging to 

 the compound S3'stems, one sun setting 

 it may be in golden yellow, or in purest 

 green, and another rising in amethyst 

 blue or in richest purple Moreover, 

 fancy can sketch better than words 

 can describe, or an artist portray, the 

 richness, beauty, and variety, of the 

 hues presented, when such charming- 

 ly coloiu'ed suns, mingling their flash- 

 ing rays, happen together in the sky. — 

 "The Call of the Stars," (Kippax). 



