ROUGH ASTRONOMICAL NOTES.

Western Star, Issue 278, 4 January 1879, Page 1 (Supplement)

ROUGH ASTRONOMICAL NOTES.

January, 1879. The Sun’s meridian altitude and the New Zealand mean time of his meridian passage, rising, and setting for Dunedin :

The Sun still continues unspotted. ’ ’ THE MOON. PI! ASUS. First quarter—ld. Ih. 27m. a.m.’ ’ Full Moon—Bd. lib. 18m. p.m. ’ Last quarter—lsd. 10b. 32m. p.m 1 ! Now Moon—22d. llh. 21m. p.m. First quarter—3od. llh. 15m. p m. POSITION IN orbitIn apogee, Id. Bb. p.m. In perigee, 15d. 4b. a.m. In apogee, 29d. Gh. p.m. Maximum north declination, 6d. llh. p.m. Maximum south declination, 19d. Ufa, p.m. The Moon is in conjunction with Mars on the 19fch, with Mercury on the 21st, with. Venus and Jupiter on the 24th, and with Saturn on the 27th."’ * On the 3rd at 8 a.m. the Earth is in Perihelion. On the 17th at 8 a.m. Mercury is at his greatest elongation, 24deg. west; this is the best time for a morning view of Mercury through a fine telescope. On the 22nd there will be an annular eclipse of the Sun, visible in South America and South Africa, invisible in New Zealand. On the 24th at 3 p.m. Venus and Jupiter are in conjunction. This month there will he three occulations of small stars by the Moon, at convenient hours for observation. The times an angles of contact are as follows : On the' 9th, B. A.C. 2783, 0 m:ig. Disappears 9h. 15m., 65“ 13. of S. point. Reappears lOh. 25m., 82“ W. of N. point. On the 11th, A Leonis, 5 mag. Disappears 10h. Bm., 16“ 11 of S. point. Reappears lOh. 50m., 68° W. of S. point. On the 12th D Leonis, 5 mag. Disappears lOh. 50m., 38“ E. of S. point. Reappears llh 47m 83“ W. of N. point. Jupiter is too near conjunction with the sua for the eclipses of his satellites to be observed. They will not be visible again till about the middle of March. In 1879 there will be several remarkably near approaches of the planets to fixed stars, and to one another, most of them being visible in New Zealand. ' Perhaps the most interesting one is the conjunction of Mars and Saturn, near sunrise on the Ist of July. The least distance of their centres will be about Imin. of arc ; and therefore they will appear as one to the unaided eye. If the conjunction occurred when the planets were a few minutes Inbre to the westward, Mars would eclipse Saturn. . The eclipse of one planet by another, or of a conspicuous star by a planet, has probably never been observed.

Day. Mond. Ait On McriJ. Eisea. Sots. h. m. a. h. m. h. m. 5 68” 49' 0 13 14 4 31 7 55 12 65 52’ 0 16 11 4 39 7 53 19 64“ 35' 0 18 S9 4 43 7 50 26 .62” 50'. 0 20 32 4 53 7 44