The Heavens in September. 
By Professor Samuel G. Barton of the University of Pennsylvania. 
T HE bright planets, Jupiter and 
Saturn, which have been objects 
of interest in the evening sky for 
many months, are now too close to the 
sun to be seen. The sun passes Saturn 
September 21 and Jupiter the next day. 
These planets will then be morning 
stars for about six months. On Sep- 
occurs at intervals of about twenty 
years. There are no periods in tempera- 
ture changes of this length. For un- 
known reasons the temperatures of dif- 
ferent years vary to a considerable ex- 
tent with a tendency toward cycles. 
The period which seems to be most 
marked is one of thirty-five years. The 
■SO UT 1-1 
Figure 1. The constellations at 9 Y. M„ September I. (Hold the map so that the direction faced is 
at the bottom; that is, if facing east hold east at the bottom as south now is.) 
tember 14 Jupiter passes Saturn, or is 
in conjunction with it as the astron- 
omers call it. This conjunction has been 
ascribed as the cause of the unusually 
high temperatures prevailing this year. 
I have seen no good reason for accept- 
ing this as a cause. Such a conjunction 
range, however, is not great. No reason 
for this period is known. As tempera- 
ture changes on the earth as a whole 
are primarily due to changes on the 
sun there have been many attempts to 
find the reasons for the changes in the 
sun’s condition. In particular attempts 
