ROUGH ASTRONOMICAL NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 3853, 30 June 1875, Page 2

ROUGH ASTRONOMICAL NOTES

July, 1876. i£nnfh Ua TT II “ a P°*®« 0n third of .Pgin tbe constellation Sp* dwtojwe south of the star 2* m “ orum *, Th « disc does not*eem to be so free-from spots as it generally Is during a minimum, penod; on no occasion 5m»W the last month, when we had an opportunity of **“ ’ wasite^arf,w of 2 . The Moon will be in perigee very early °“ t e SS® I ®* i the . »* ia apogee at 2 a.ijf -dik ud s*“ m .perigee at 8 p.m on lows 2 -— b * ptases take place as fol,T , Hrs. Min, New Moon on the 3rd at ... 4 '47 pm. Firet Quarter on the 10th at’ 10 2 jr!m. Full Moon on th* 19th at ... 0 49ILm Last Quarter on the 26th at 8 la.m! *i. 3 *iJf cr ? U is r will b l in “ferior conjunction on the4th of the month. He wifi be stationary on tne Xotn, and 'will* resell liis greatest western elongation, 19 deg. 86 min., oh the 2sth. It' that date he will be far to the north. In Gemini,[not far from the star Zeta of that" constellation. The haze near the horizon, his great northern -decimation, -and the small ' elongation, will together render . it difficult to catch a glimpse of him. It will certainly not be worth while to get out of bed ,ot the 4. Yeuua is stillto be seen before-eunrise , from favorable localities. She too is very far nor„h, and is fast approaching the Sun. Her brightness, which is still considerable, allows her seen under circumstances which render Mercury quite invisible. ' 5. Mars is a superb object; he how far sorpasses Jupiter in brightness. His color is not so staking as we expected it to be. It would seem as if the remark of Dr. Huggins, that too much or too hltle light renders the color of telescopic objects less noticeable, is true also of celestial bodies seen with the naked eye; at all eyente Mars now appears far less ruddy thaw he did three months ago. The best time to see the color of Mars at present is about half an hour after sunset. Mars rises at about 2.48 * p.m., and passes the iueridiau at about eleven o clock in the evening oh the first of themonth. 6. Jupiter is still near Sploa Virginiß. but he has commenced to move slowly to the east amongst the stars., As he will be in so-called quadrature on the Ifith, his “ phase ’* will be as distinct as it ever is • that is, a' moderately good telescope wifi show a slight Shading on the side that is turned away from the .Sun—the left side man inverting telescope. Jupiter passes the meridian at about a qUarter to seven m the evening, and.sets at, about twenty' minutes pafct one id this nubrning. ■ 7. Saturn rises at about s quarter past eight. Passes tli© meridian at a Quarter past three. Hefis in the constellation Aquarius The ■ star Delta Capricorn! about ISmin. a little norttu The rings are not very favorably Situated for. observation. They will he somewhat betterfplaoed in six weeks’ time, but it will not be possible to get a really good view of them for several years to come; in fact wo shall continue, with a few fluctuations, to see them more aud more “ edgewise ” till the gened jjf their total disappearance In 1877. otill, this planet affords' a noble spectacle, and is always worth looking at, even through a telescope of very moderate power. 8. 'Uranus is no longer visible, as he is getting close to the Sun. 9.. Neptune is a morning star: he passes the meridian at about 7.26 a.m. 10, Of those northern stars that at present culminate during the evening, the following Pms the meridian, or are due north) as follows; . ■ . Spica Viiginis at about 6.30 p.m., at an altitude of nearly 55deg, . Arcturus at about 8.30 p.m., at an altitude of about 24deg. • • i Autai-es at about 9.45 p.m., at an altitude of about 70deg. Vega, just before midnight, at an altitude Of : little more than sdeg.