Stars Will be Lovelier Next Tuesday

Chronicle (Levin), 15 October 1949, Page 5

Stars Will be Lovelier Next Tuesday

Between 7.30 and 8 o'clock on Tuesday evening there Will be & fcast in the skies for those delighting in beautif'ul arrangements of stars. Venus will be little more than 20 minutes are away from the Star Antares — an apparent distance less than the dinmeter of the moon. _ The apparent close approach of Venus to Antftr'es provtdoS an interesting lesson in true astronoimco 1 dimensions and distances. Shining by retiectfcd sunlightj Venus, the .seeond nearest planet to the sun, has a diameter of 7600 miles and will then be 86,000,000 miles away from the eafth. Antares, on the other hand, is a gi= ant red sun shining by its own iight. It is some 400,000,000 miles in diameter and at such an enormous distance that its light t&kes 170 years to-reach the eafth. Eecently the evening star or the planet Venus and the planet Jupiter have been attracting eonsiderable attentioft in the evening sky. Appearing like a brilliftnt diamond in the west at about 7,30 p.m., Venus is. the brightest object in the heavens with the exception of the moon, . Jupiter is higher in the sky and aecond. in brigbtness only to Venus, Venus will become brighter and more prominent as the year continues, and, by December, will pass to the crescent phftse as seen through the tel'eseope. Jupiter, with a diameter of about 86,000 miles,, is the giant planet of the solar system. Like Venus, it shines by refiected sunlight, but will be at a distance of 465,000,000 miles from the earth on Tuesday-, ShadoWs", thoiight to be cloud markings, may be seen on Jupitef through a good telesCope ftnd are subjoct to co&stant chango. Siuce July astronomers have been watching great disturbances on the planet, the expl&fiatiofts Of Which afe still based on vague speculation. While the prineipal featftres Of the plafiet can be recognised readily by mqst people when first looking through a 'good telesdope, the fine detaili Studied by 'astronomers can be diseerned only after long periods of experience and training,