The Astronomy of 1881.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 2, Issue 298, 21 March 1881, Page 2

The Astronomy of 1881.

Our readers may bo interested by the following paragraph from the Neva York Sun on the astronomical events of 1831 : -—“ The sky will not present such a biilliant pageant again this century as it does during the present year. Among the phenomena are a remarkable series of conjunctions, and doable and triple conjunctions. The most interesting of these is the [great twenty-year conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in April. As this conjunction occurs in the sign Taurus, which astrologers say rules Turkey and Ireland, they feel safe, on account of occurrences, in predicting very momentuous effects in those countries from the conjunction. There will'also be conjunctions of Jupiter and Mars, Venus and Jupiter, Saturn and Venus, and the faraway giants TTnanus and Neptune will play a part in this remarkable planetary levee. Venus will reach her greatest brightness, and her delicate crescent should be a favorite object in the amateur astronomer’s telescope. Saturn opens wider its wonderful rings, and Jupiter is remarkably brilliant. Mars will begin to brighten in the latter part of the year, and then his snowy poles and shallowy continents will again become the admiration of those who gaze through telescopes. In short, there will be no end of attractions in the starry heavens, and all the prognostications of soothsayers will not be able to darken the sky of 1881.