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Show ifflFniAviNs m January I j professor Eric Doolittlo, of the University of Pennsylvania. lJK' v. ill ho disJinyul3h'-vl hy p1pXOfi inti'ropt'np astronomical : W' yiii if all in Importance Ik i t t!;e ft urn ofllnlley's romct, ' PfjcrJul fdestlal object which to-i to-i lle of sprliip will xhlno out vo ' Kiir in"tlp 'oniiip sky that It will S V ui tent lo of eveiy one. Then rails' hr two !nlc!-cst!n?r total eclipses planet, a- f.trt -p.-hioh prows cl-ulv that I re r worl(1 ns a considerable p.tmos-Mars, p.tmos-Mars, and Jupitor. rtifl oauli mid fo brllllnni last August, wl.l rontlnuo to prow fainter until nei September, when Jt will Iv, onlv site u'S nvlpliter thnn a s-onil mapnltudo "stir. At this tunc t ,c curth anO Mars will ho on opposite slews' of the. sun. more than f rip-re I Ths Constellations, January 1, 9 p. in. i (When facing soiUJi, hold the insp upright. If facing east, hold "'Eass" ;ifwost, hold 'West" helow, and if facing north, hold the map inverted.) A: lit noon, loth vis-iblc throughout in? 'J firf Staces. and in tho last month of J Sour "n occulatlon of the planet Sat--J1 c,j bMUtlful anf- unusual sight, whirh ; feittav observation with a small tele- A Im J" tn"eii of 'l'- year. except for Hi' weeks-', there will bo iit least ti Wsbt planet in the evening sky. t Bllh opener will finrl it of much ills' ill-s' km to wntch the varying- motions and r cirancfs or thc.ie "oros as tho months i . p h- The planet Venus, which now l j out so very brilliantly in tho south-i, south-i, wtl after suniict, has already begun h lin nearer the sun. and will pass to ;i a x!!t of that body and enter the ,i srJ:; rfcy on February 1J. During tarir the entire year it will remain 1 1 ceniii? star, onlv returnlnc to the pdr.c heavens on November '26. Affr a5atc wo will :eo It slowly movln? ttfroai behind the ami, hut for many SRlhj afomard It will be vcrv much ial'rilliant than I Us at present. ,T!li planet will reach its greatest StJlnt.5 on January 7. On and aflcr iitlr. the po.sesser of a r-oiall tele-trfcould tele-trfcould not fail to examine il. Iivi t, I Socd Xlcld sloss will 5how It as a bau-Wtllvciy bau-Wtllvciy rreaeent, whl. h during v w tfcw wr?kn will qrow narrower ;n.J a arroner until it 13 lh- thinnes t fniasin- If At litUt- bow of llsht. The obMrvor I atrrotlc.' that th.- hoins of tho ires-Mjl ires-Mjl gtwltmi more than half wny round tin; I 33 waitijiimiiii IILUIHIIIU..I .,..1. ,. , ":I0 million mlk's apart, so that in the telescope the planet will appear only about one-seventh as iaifie as it now does. Even at, prouent the two bodies are so far apart that only the larger markings can bo seen, wen in a largo telescope. Tho disc of tho plnnct is now-far now-far from round. Us shape boln? nearly UUe that of the moon when about nine days old. The beautiful planet .lupitcr. which is now aeon rising majestically In tho cast soon nfter midnight, next April will no high in tho heavens by n o'clock In the evening. ' ami will remain our brightest and moat interesting evening atar until October 1. On thin date tho sun. In Its regular eastward motion along its path, A; .V." n" '"tew' will pass tho planet, which accordingly will then beeomo n morning sjtar. Similarly Saturn will bo overtaken by the sun und enter the morning morn-ing sky on April V). Saturn and Mars are now near together in tho okv. but the latter planet has so vcrv rapid an eastern- motion of Its own Hint the. sun cannot overtake and pass it until September Sep-tember 27. Thus cf the throe bright planets now In the weat Venus will remain with us only one month longer and Saturn only two months. .But .luplter will enter the evening sky as Saturn leaves it. and this planet, with Mars, will remain with us until autumn. After Jupiter disappears there will be no bright planet whatever to be seen in the heavens until Venus begin be-gin to draw out from behind the sun in November. Halloy's Comet. There. ar. three comets now visible in the sky. The first of these Is a. very I 'j ' 7 M 1 5 T- AFUES : v.y PISCES CETUS ' J- J Pigurc S The square of figure 1 enlarged to show the motion of Halley'3 I comet. ' little ob.ietft which, returns to the sun every six years, aud 'which now lies so low down isi the southwest just after funnel fun-nel that it cannot be well seen trom north.-en north.-en 1 observatories. The second Is a new. bright Mill", comet discovered on December 7 At Its discovery dis-covery il was at tho point (!, Figure 1. a Utile nJiovn a straight line Joining tho stars X) and E. At the lime this is written its path among the sipiv and Us future appearance cannot bo predicted. Finally, there 13 1-1 alloy s cornet, which 1 during the month will move westward W ...;:: ,P ZENITH f f ? H W: J ig' . CAST HORIZON 1 riguve 2 The Eastern heavens at 3 a, r.i., yhoYillg the path of Jupiter. out or the constellation Aries along the path 1". 11.. Figaro 1. It was visible In a telescope of moderate moder-ate nlr.e, but as H hail passed nearest the sun the day before ami was then far outside the. orbit of the curth and rapidly rap-idly drawing away from us, It grew rap-Idly rap-Idly fainter, and can now only be seen with tho largest Instruments. It in hoped that by the end of Hie montn It will be bright enough to be seen In a small felcscopo or good Hold glass. To emiblo the observer to find it easily n' larger map. Figure 3, In added. Tho comet is now moving rapidlv toward to-ward the vost among the stars and drawing draw-ing nearer the nun. On March '2?. it will pass to the west of that body and enter the morning sky, but for some weeks before be-fore this date it should hu.ve become bright enough to be seen with tho neked eye. On May 18 it will pass between the earth and sun, re-onterlng tho evening sky and moving very rapidly across the heavens from tho west to the cast. For several day3 after this date Jt will probably prob-ably be a conspicuous and striking object. ob-ject. A committee of astronomers of various countries has been formed for keeping the comet under constant observation during dur-ing lis present appearance. From its loso approach to Venus on Mav I and to the earth on May IS It Is hoped that exact values uf the masses of these planets plan-ets may be obtained. At the passage of the earth through the tail on the latter aate careful meteorological observations will be mode to discover what-(if anv) effects, electrical up .otherwise, are produced pro-duced in our atmosphere. Above all.- It Is hoped that. a continuous series of photographs photo-graphs of Ui. visitor will bo obtained. II being caught at one .obsoi vd top,- after It has set .it observatories further -ast. As telescope? are few 0n the parr of the earth opposite the mcrldau of Croenwl -h an expedition will be sent to the Hawaiian Hawai-ian lsands for this purpose 12K1C DOOLTTTLK. |