TO KNOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 



289 



tude. And in the west there is seen a 

 pair of most beautiful objects made up 

 of the brilliant, silvery Venus and the 

 golden Jupiter. 



From a very little watching, the ob- 

 server will find that Venus is moving 

 rapidly eastward among the stars. 

 While at the beginning of the month 

 it is far to the west of Jupiter, it will 

 rapidly overtake and pass the giant 

 planet and soon be found far east of 

 it. The observer will find it very in- 

 teresting to watch these two bright 

 planets as they first draw nearer to- 

 gether and afterward separate from one 

 another. Their closest approach will 

 occur on February 13 at 10 P. M., when 

 they will be seen separated by a dis- 

 tance considerably less than the diam- 

 eter of the moon, the silvery Venus 

 being then north of Jupiter. For sev- 

 eral days before and after this date 

 the two objects will form a conspicuous 

 and beautiful star figure in the evening 

 sky. 



The Total Eclipse of the Sun. 



In the forenoon of February 3, the 



moon will pass between the earth and 



the sun and at all points within a long 



narrow strip on the surface of the earth 



west corner of South America, pass 

 diagonally across the entire North 

 Atlantic Ocean, and will finally leave 

 the earth at the point B at 12 hrs. 31 

 min. o s. P. M. 



Figure 2. Region within which the solar eclipse of 

 February 3 is visible, and the path of the moon's 

 shadow on the earth. 



The eclipse is an interestmg ana im- 

 portant one, for from certain points 

 within the path the sun will be hidden 

 for no less than 2 min. 36 s. 



To all observers within the path, A. 

 M. B. the sun will be completely cov- 

 ered by the moon. If we move over 

 the earth farther and farther north of 

 this path, we will, as it were, look more 

 and more over the upper edge of our 



Figure 3. Showing the times (Eastern Standard) of the beginning and ending 

 of the eclipse of February 3 for all points within the United States. 



will completely blot out the sun's light. 

 The shadow will first strike the earth 

 at the point A (Figure 2) at 9 hrs. 29 

 min. 12 s. A. M. (Eastern Standard 

 Time). It will sweep over the turn- 

 ing earth, crossing the extreme north- 



moon and thus see our satellite dis- 

 placed downward upon the sun's disc. 

 To all observers in the United States 

 the moon will thus be seen to pass 

 across only the lower path of the sun 

 and the eclipse will hence from this 



