ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR AUGUST.

Evening Star, Issue 14632, 31 July 1911, Page 1

ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR AUGUST.

[From the Hon. Director, Waxgaxpi Obsert.m-oet.J

—The Sun—is in the constellation Cancer till die 9tA, v ben he outers Leo. His northern de-■.-lination is now decreasing from 18.2deg 0:1 the- Ist to 9.3deg on the 31st, aad hk altitude at true noon -vrill therefore ini <rea.se by about 9deg during the month. J Small groups of sun epcts were observed during the middle of July,- but a state of quiescence marks this period as one of true minimum, so far «is this phase of eoiax activity is concerned. —The- Moon—- ; will bo near Jupiter 0:1 the evenings of the I J tit and 2nd ; Uranus on the evening of the fcth : Saturn on the night of the 17th; Mars on the same night, the two planets being at this time in conjunction; near I Venus <,n the 26th, and Jupiter again on ! the evening of the 29th. She will be pa£«- ] ing through the following consteUatioiw, : visible in our evening skies, 011 the eveni ings mentioned :—ln Virgo on the Ist and j 2nd. and near Spica on the Ist; : Libra on t?ie 3rd ; Scorpio on the 4th and I stli, and neasrest- Antaxee-, the heart of the j .Scorpion, 011 the oth ; Sagittarius on the j 6th. 7lJi, and Bth ; Capricornus on the 9th j Hitd 10th ; Aquarius on the llih and 12th; i Pisces on the 13th. She will bo once I more visible in the early evenings at the j '--nd of the month, passing through Virgo i on the 28th, 29tb, and 30th, and nearest I Spica nn the former date: and in Libra j and Scorpio on the last days of August. I —Phases of the Moon—j in Xew Zealand mean time: — Days. Hours. Min. j 1-irst quarter ... 2 10 59 a.m. ; Full moon 10 2 25 p.m. j Last quarter 17 11 40 p.m. ; >.ew moon 24 3 44 p.m.. j -Apogee 6 1 34 p.m. j Perigee 21 9 36 p.m. ', —Mercury—- ; id an evening cstar at the beginning of the i month in the .onetellation Leo. His path i is a fairly rapid one to the east at this ! time, when the careful watcher may pick I liim up with the unaided eye at the first darkening of the western sky. He will be jr. aphelion 011 the 12th, and at his greatest elongation east on the fame daie. when, he has angular displacement of 27.4deg from the sun's centre. He will be in conjuration with the Moon on the 26th, and will j become etationarv amongst the Stan on ! the 27th. i —Venus—is now the bright star of the evening sky. She will reach her greatest brilliancy on the 11th. when her full blaze of bluishwhite light will be very striking. At this time it will be found that she casts a distinct shadow of an object removed from the interference of artificial light. She i will be in aphelion on the 20th, stationary ! amongst the stars on the 23rd, and in con- ' junction with the Moon on the 26th. —Mars—jis a morning star in the constellation Aries, moving easterly amongst the stars. I He is now d-raxing away from the Sun, \ and will lie in quadrature on the 9th. 1 He will be on the same meridian with j Saturn on -the 17th. but unfortunately both : bodies will be below our horizon at the lime, otherwise a very pretty sight jnigtit'" have .Vr.'i hpd. ;« the two bf separd-uvl by <urly two-thirds the diaj meter of the Moon, as -viewed from th« j Earth. , j

—Jupiter—is still a brilliant star in our evening-sky. Alihingh considerably removed from opposition, his disci well repays telescopic observation, the belts being extremely-well defined just now. He •will'be' in conjunction with the Moon on the 2nd, and again on the 29th. The phenomena of his satellites may be looked for on the following evenings by all those possessing telescopes of fair power on elands that give steadv movements—viz.. 2nd. 4th. sth, 6th, '9th, 13fh, 15th, 20th. 22nd, 23rd, 28th. and 29th. —Satnm—is si ill a morning star, on the border of Taurus, having a forward motion amongst the stars. His quadrature with the Sun takes place on the 14th. and he will be in conjunction with the Moon on the 19th. on which day he is also in conjunction v.-ith Mars. —Uracus—is in Sagittarius, retrograding. He will lie i;i lunar conjunction on the evening of the Bth. —-Neptune— is a morning star in Gemini. Hi- will be in lunar conjunction ou the 22nd. —Meteors.— There is ;i rich radiant due this month from the constellation Perseus, but this is reserved for dwellers to the north. —The ConstellalionE—. for the middle-of the month, during the eaily evening hours, are placed as follows: —North, and near the horizon. Hercules to the left, and the smaller Lyra to the right, ibe latter hearing the fine star Vega, wniljust under him and to the east is th» famous EpsiJon. single to the average eye, dcuhle in nji ordinary binocular, and. each .-far, again, doubled in a fair-«j*d telescope. Over these Ophiochus and Serpens, with the. Scorpion near the zenith. Towards iljc north-east is Cygiras and ih» Dolphin, with Aquila over thaw, whita IVsjasati may be *een rising more easterly. In the »-.!-<-t. division Aquarius. Canrircrnrus. and Sagittarius stretch from horizon to zenith in the order given. Eridanus and Ibe tine .-tar Achernar may lie seen, with l'hreiiix in the tioutb-eafct," while over the aauth is Hydius. and the Magellanic Cloud* »re to the esiet of the meridian. The Cross and Pointers (Alpha and Beta. Centaur!) are moving down in the eouth-wect. Canopus arid Argo will be eeen low down <m thw south-west lioriwiii, the big star blazing and alternating in shades of red. yellow, .ind green, due to the. angle his rave strike our atinocpberic boundary at this time. Hydra is rapidly disappearing, with Giryus. in the west, where Virgo and the, bright, Ftaj- Spiia may now be seen, Libra, over Virgo, "in the north-west we msy }irKtt*6 nearinj the horizon, with the tine star Aicturus. a-iwl Corona Borealis, whose disappearance heralds the approaching «q>ring. —The Zodiacal Light. — 'This very interesting phenomenon was-eeen well for the first time this fieason on the evening of the 14th. The beautiful oone of soft pearly light should be looked for ou unv clear evening, when there is no moon, directlv t-l*e western ekx darkens. V«nus is now right in the axis of the cone, and somewhat detracts from ite brightness. Julv 31, 1911-