ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR DECEMBER.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 12936, 29 November 1909, Page 3

ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR DECEMBER.

+♦ The SUN is iv the constellation Ophnichus till the 18th.' when he enters Sagittarius. His sou'!' 1 declination increases till the 22nd, wn<n l^ icaches his greatest southern alt ' i\ \; and marks the solstice, the longest d u y of the year. This is the first day of summer according to the almanac, lent not according to popular reckoning. Sblar activity lias been fairly well marked by several groups of sun-spots visible during the past month ; it is evident the minimum phase must still be some way oil. ECLIPSE.— There will be a partial eclipse of the Sun on the morning of the 13tn. This is given by some of the Almanacs as being invisible in New Zealand, nevertheless a smpll portion of the Sun will be eclipsed (towards the east). It wiU begin at 5.34.' a.m., at greatest phase at 5.52 a.m., and-*will end at 6.11 a.m. The MOON, in her monthly circuit of the heavens, conges into the vicinity of the planets and some of the brighter stars and serves as a, convenient pointer to them. She will \>e near Jupiter on the morning of the 7th ; Mercury on the 13th ; Uranus on the 15thj; Venus on the morning of the 17th; but -making a close and interesting appearance on the evening of the 16th ; Mars W the evening of the 21st; and Saturn on the same date, when the western sky, witn these three bodies closely grouped, "will present a very attractive spectacle, Saturn being only about *three lunar diameters away from the Moon to the north, and Mars farther to the north-west. Her path through the constellations visible in our evening skies at about 8 p.m. ia as follows :^— As a crescent in Sagittarius on the 14th and 15th ; Capricornus on the 16th and 17th; Aquarius on the 18th innd,l9tb,-; .Pisces- on the 20th, and 21st; Aries on the 22nd, and 23rd; Taurus on the 24th, 25th, and 26th, and near the bright' star Alderbaran'on the 25th; Gemini on the 27th, and 28th, and nearest the two bright stars Castor and Pollux on the 28th ; Cancer on the 29th; and Leo till the end of the mo-t!i. PHASES OF TH- MOON, in New Ze:.land mean time :-rDays. Hits. Mins. Last Quarter ....,-.... 5 3 42 a.m. New Moon 13 7 29 a.m. First Quarter 20 13 4S p.m. Full Moon 27 9 0 a.m. MERCURY is a morning star at the l>eginning of the.month, and is in superior conjunction on the 3rd. He will be at his greatest distance from the Sun on the sth; in conjunction with the Moon on the 13th ; in greatest- heliocentric latitude south on the. 26th ; aud in conjunction with Uranus in Sagittarius, on the 28th as an evening star, but close to the Sun at this time. VENUS i.s a splendid object just now in our south-western sky. She is in the constellation Capricornus and approaching her greatest extern elongation from the Sun, which occurs on the 3rd, when she is separated by 47.3 deg. eastwards of our primary. She is a very pretty object just now in the telescope, and should be observed by all having fair sized telescope-,. Owing to her great brilliancy, she should be observed on a twilight sky, if possible, when she will be observed to pass through a warning phase until she again passes intr, the Sun. MARS is an evening star in the constellation Pisces, moving forward. He shows considerable phase at this time, and owing to th? increase in his distance from the earth his apparent angular diameter is much decreased, but Ms disc still forms an interesting .telescopic object. On nights of clear sky, and steady air. Taken altogether, this oppo-ition, troni which we expected so much, has not turned out as we anticipated, many cloudy and rough nights making refined observation impossible. Li astronomical observation we are b.irg continually reminded that '-the best laid plans ol mice aud men aft gang agley." Mars will be near the Moon on the evening of the 20th aud 21st. JUPITER is a morning star in the constellation Virgo. He will be in conjunction with the Moon on the mornina of the 7th. ' SATURN is to be seen in the north in the early evening to the east of Mars. He is a most interesting object in -the telescope at this time, his ring system being nicely inclined to our view. As a telescopic spectacle, seen for the first time — the yellow globe (resting within the great encompassing system of rings and surrounded by his moons— there is hardly anything that can compare with him in the whole range of the heavens. He is stationary amongst the stars, and close to the Moon at the same time, on tho evening of the 21st. URANUS is an evening star at the beginning of the month, in Sagittarius. He will be in conjunction with the Moon on the evening ot the 15th, and will be in conjunction with the planet Mercury on the^ evening of the 28th. NEPTLTXK j., an evening '-Slar in Gcmim and will be in conjunction with tne Moon on the morning of the 28th. METEORS may be looked for from Gemini about the 4th and 10Ui, also from laurus during the early part pf the month, lhese meteors are of the ve<jy swift moving kind, not the train "bearing kind we get from Andromeda and other constellations of following meteors The CONSTELLATIONS,' at the middle ol the month, for about 8 p.m. aie .is follows:— North Aries, the Noithern Triangle, and part of Andromeda low downabove these Cetiis, the Sea-Monster, lies across the Meridian. Low down in the north-east is Perssus, with Algoo, the Bemon star of the Ancients, and aobve th<\se the pretty groups of the Hyades and Pleiades. In the former cluster is the fi»io red star Aldebaran in the forehead ol the Hull. Gemini is just rising with U-non over tin,, constellation, and Endanus over Orion again and stretching up to a point in the south-wost beyond the zenith, Caius Major and the fine star Sinus may be seen south of east, also Argo and the bright star Canopus, farther south; while over Argo are Dorado Hydrus, and the two Mageuuauic Clouds. lac Cross is now rising from its lower transit of tho .southern meridian, followed the bright stars Alpha and Beta, Centauri-the '-pointer." Sagittarius is ]ust setting in the south-west, while nearly in the due west is Capricornus nearin<r the horizon. The Great Square of Pee-r-sus is now well to the west with h» a- c crn portion of Pisc>s HALLEY'S COMET.-This object is coming towards us very rapidly/ but is still too faint to be seen out of the largest telescopes. On the 6th he will be in Tarrus and north of the star Lambda, on tin 16th on the order, between Taurus and Aries north of Xi Tauri, and on the ostho sth in Aries and about midway between "the Btars Tigma and Epsilon Arietis THE HON. DIRECTOR, „ , nrt Wanganui Observatory. November 30th, 1909.