TO KNOW TH1-: STARRY HEAVENS 



365 



tinually hiohcr in the heavens and also 

 run quite rapidly westward anumi;- the 

 constellations until it has come to the 

 neig-hborhood of the position C, when 

 it will begin to move downward and 

 its westward motion will become very 

 slow, or cease altogether. The true 

 path is shown in Figure 3, which rep- 

 resents the southeastern heavens as 

 viewed on May i at 5 A. M., or on 

 May 31 at 3 A. M. As this region will 

 be well up from the ground by 11 P. M. 

 during the month of .Vugust (which is 

 the time of the comet's greatest bright- 

 ness), it will then be in very favorable 

 position for observation. 



The Planets in May. 



Mercury, which reached its greatest 

 elongation east of the sun on April 24, 

 may still be seen, though with some 

 difificulty, during the tirst few days of 

 May. It should be looked for in the 

 northwest and very near the horizon 

 until about three-quarters of an hour 

 after sunset. It is in the constellation 

 Taurus, near the Pleiades, and shines 

 with two and one-half times the bright- 

 ness of a first magnitude star. Mer- 

 cury will enter the morning sky on 

 May 16 and will afterward attain its 

 greatest distance w^est of the sun on 

 June II. 



Venus entered the evening sky on 

 April 26, and though it is steadily emerg- 

 ing from the sun's rays, it sets but 

 about fifty minutes after the sunset by 

 the end of the month. Toward this 

 time it should be looked for verv far 



Figure 3. — The path pursued by the new comet 

 imong the stars during the present year. 



to the northwest and low^ in the twi- 

 light glow. Notwithstanding its prox- 

 imity to the sun, it can readily be 

 found, for it now shines with sixty 

 times the brightness of a first magni- 

 tude star. 



Mars rises a])()Ul lil'ly minutes be- 

 fore sunrise on May i, and though this 

 time is increased to seventy minutes 

 by May 31, the planet is still far too 

 close to the sun for satisfactory obser- 

 \ations. 



Jupiter, which has shown so bril- 

 liantly in our evening heavens through- 

 out the entire winter, will definitely 

 withdraw from the evening sky on May 

 9. By the end of the month it may be 

 seen rising in the northeast, nearly an 

 hour before sunrise. 



Saturn is now conspicuous in the 

 early evening. It is moving eastward 

 and southward in the eastern borders 

 of Gemini and will readily be found 

 from the position shown in Figure i. 

 The rings are now widely opened out, 

 and the system forms a beautiful tele- 

 scopic object for study. 



Shooting Star Showers in May. 



The several readers who have ob- 

 served the shooting stars referred to in 

 the present articles will be interested 

 to know that many lesser show^ers will 

 occur during the present month. On 

 the evening of May 9 an occasional 

 shooting star may be seen to dart out- 

 ward from almost the exact center of 

 the constellation Virgo (at D, Fig. i), 

 wdiile on this evening, and especially 

 on May 10, similar shooting stars will 

 occasionally draw away from a radiant 

 at C. On May 24 a minor shower will 

 occur from a radiant at A, w^hile five 

 days later, on May 29, a second, even 

 lesser, shower will occur from this 

 same point. 



The above are all, however, but small 

 showers, quite long waits being usual- 

 ly necessary before a single shooting 

 star wdiich belongs to one of them is 

 seen. A much more interesting one 

 occurs from the 3d to the 6th of the 

 month, btit this must be looked for 

 during the few hoin"s just before sun- 

 rise, since in this shower the shcjoting 

 stars (called "Aquarids") dart outward 

 in all directions from near the point S 

 of Figure 3. Prior observations have 

 indicated that this radiant point shifts 

 al)out one degree toward the eastward 

 during each twenty-four hours, the 

 change being caused by the different 

 way in which we view^ the particles as 



