244 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



the south-west in excellent position 

 for observation. It will be very readily 

 found from the position indicated in 

 Figure i, for it is by far the brightest 

 object in this part of the heavens. As 

 this planet occupies nearly twelve 



date it will steadily climb upward in 

 the western heavens, and toward the 

 close of the year will become the most 

 conspicuous object in the sky. It will 

 attain its greatest distance east of the 

 sun on Nov. "^o. 



l.OO A .M . 



130A.M. 3 4-.OOA.M, 



•4-.30 i^M. 



Figure 3. Appearance of the moon at different hours during the lunar eclipse of January 8. 



years in moving once around the hea- 

 vens among the stars, it will be found 

 hy the end of 1917 in the position di- 

 rectly between the Pleiades and Hya- 

 des indicated in the figure. This little 

 region will then indeed be a most 

 beautiful and interesting one. 



Saturn is now high above the ground 

 in the north-east, almost in a line with 

 the Twin stars, Castor and Pollux. 

 During 1917 this planet will move only 

 across Cancer in its slow, 29-year jour- 

 ney around the Celestial Sphere. The 

 sun, steadily pursuing its course along 

 the path AVB, will overtake and pass 

 Jupiter on May 9, and will similarly 

 pass to the east of Saturn on July 27. 

 On these dates the respective planets 

 will change from evening to morning 

 stars. 



Mars, which is now too low in the 

 south-west for observation, will not 

 enter the borders of our evening maps 

 during the present year. It will be 

 passed by the sun and thus become a 

 morning star on Feb. 28; by August 

 I, it will rise three hours before sun- 

 rise and this time will be increased to 

 five hours by Nov. i, and to seven 

 hours by the end of the year. But the 

 Red Planet will not attain its most fav- 

 orable position for observation during 

 the year 1917. 



The very brilliant Venus now rises 

 far in the south-east about two hours 

 before sunrise, but this interval is 

 rapidly lessening and becomes only one 

 hour by the end of the month. The 

 planet will, however, not enter the 

 evening sky until April 26, after which 



Thus from January until the middle 

 of April, both Jupiter and Saturn will 

 shine in our evening sky. On this date 

 Jupiter will be lost in the sun's rays, 

 but Saturn will remain until toward the 

 end of July ; before the Ringed Planet 

 withdraws, the beautiful Venus will 

 have become conspicuous in the west. 

 Jupiter will again appear in the east 

 toward the end of October, and Saturn 

 toward the close of November. Dur- 

 ing these months, also, Venus will be 

 growing nightly more conspicuous and 

 mounting even higher in the heavens. 



Mercury reaches its greatest distance 

 east of the sun on the evening of Jan. 

 2, and may then be detected shining 

 low in the twilight, almost directly 

 above the west point of the horizon, 

 until about one and one-half hours after 

 sunset. Similar east elongations will 

 occur in April, August and December; 

 in February, June and October the 

 planet will reach its greatest elongation 

 in the morning sky. 



On January 3, at 7 A. M. the earth 

 will attain its least distance from the 

 sun of the present year ; it will reach 

 the point of its yearly path which is 

 most remote from the sun at 3 P. M. 

 on July 3. The distance which sepa- 

 rates the two bodies on the former 

 date will be 91,344,000 miles. On the 

 latter date this distance will be 3,108,- 

 000 miles greater. 



The January Stars. 



The beautiful Capem is now almost 

 directly overhead, the brilliant groups 

 of Taurus and Orion are near the meri- 



