40 
THE GUIDE TO NATURE 
lision took place would have carried not 
only the rocks of the earth, but also the 
outer meteorites, to great distances 
from the scene of the collision. 
Altogether this is one of the most re- 
markable and interesting features of 
the whole earth. The colliding body 
may be regarded as a compact meteor 
swarm or as a comet, but in the latter 
case we must suppose that the comet 
was a very small one. 
Figure 3. All faint stars near A of Figure 1 
showing the motion of Uranus during August. 
The Planets in August. 
Mercury, which entered the morning 
sky on July 27, will attain its greatest 
western elongation on August 14. It 
will then rise far in the northeast a 
little more than one hour before sun- 
rise. 
Venus entered the evening sky on 
luly 2, but throughout the month it 
remains so near the sun’s rays that it 
can only be seen with difficulty. On 
August 1 it sets in the northwest about 
thirty minutes after sunset, and by Au- 
gust 31 this time is increased to nearly 
one hour. In its steady eastward mo- 
tion out of the sun’s rays. Venus will 
pass thirty-nine minutes north of Jupi- 
ter on August 8. and it will pass twen- 
ty-three minutes south of Saturn on 
August 22. These will be most inter- 
esting conjunctions to observe in a 
small telescope, but the observations 
must be made very soon after sunset 
while the western sky is still very 
bright. 
Mars is now the only planet which is 
conspicuous in the evening sky. Its 
distance from us will increase 12.400.- 
000 miles during the month, so that it 
will lose one-fourth of its brightness. 
Throughout the month it will never- 
theless be most conspicuous in the 
southwest, shining with nearly twice 
the brightness of a first magnitude star. 
Jupiter will enter the morning sky on 
August 22, and throughout the month 
is too nearly lost in the sun’s rays to be 
well observed. 
Saturn is also drawing very near the 
sun and can only be observed toward 
the beginning of the month, though it 
will not enter the morning sky until 
September 7. On August 1 it sets a 
little to the north of the west point of 
the horizon, one and three-quarters 
hours after sunset. 
This is the best month of the year to 
observe the planet Uranus, for it comes 
to opposition, and is hence nearest the 
earth, on August 27. It is slowly retro- 
grading and moving southward in 
Aquarius, and will pass exactly thirty- 
seven minutes north of the star at A 
(Figure 1) on August 7. To make the 
search for the planet easier, the stars in 
the vicinity of A are shown in Figitre 
3. The smallest dots there represent 
stars of the tenth magnitude, which will 
be too faint to be seen in anv telescope 
of less than 1.6 inches aperture. The 
star at A is of magnitude 4.9, while the 
magnitude of the planet is 6.1. With 
the help of Figures 1 and 3. Uranus can 
readily be found, but it will appear only 
as a dull greenish star in a small tele- 
scope. The planet is so far away that 
its interesting system of four moons, 
revolving in periods of from two and 
a half to thirteen and a half days, and 
varying in size from four hundred to 
one thousand miles in diameter, can 
only be seen in the largest telescopes. 
Twinkle of Stars by Other Names. 
How different exactly the same thing 
will appear when put into other words 
is well illustrated by the following. 
There is a well-known verse all of us 
have learnt in our childhood : — 
Twinkle, twinkle, little star. 
How I wonder what you are. 
Up above the world so high. 
Like a diamond in the sky. 
This has been cleverly transposed by 
some one into the technical astronomi- 
cal terms used in observatories, as : — 
Scintillate, scintillate, globule vivific. 
Fain would I fathom thy nature specific. 
Loftily poised in ether capacious, 
Strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous. 
— A Night Raid into Space. 
