ROUGH ASTRONOMICAL NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 3804, 4 May 1875, Page 3

ROUGH ASTRONOMICAL NOTES

Mat, 1873. 1. The Sun had on Thursday last two small spots and one moderately large one on his disc : the larger spot was not far from the E. limb, it con Id he seen quite distinctly through a good opera glass. 2 The Moon will bo in Perigee at about halt-past eight on the mr-n.ing qf the oth, and ia Apogee at about half past five on the inornin " of the 20th. The phases will take place as fob lows• New Moon ... ...on the 6th, at 2hrs 26mln a.ra. iMrst Quarter...on the 12th, at Ohrs 50rain p.m. | nil Moon on the 20th, at Shrs l2min pm. East Quarter,...on the 2Sth, at shrs 52mitt p.m. It will he seen that the Moon will he at. its least distance from the earth at nearly the same time that she Avill be in conjunction Avith tj'.e firm: there should, therefore, he a considerably higher tide after the new Moon‘than after the f'tll, when she \fo9n will be at her greatest diatar.ee from the earth. ' ••>. Mercury wjll bp fn superior conjunction with the Sun on the Pth of the month. Towards the end of the mouth lie will be visible in the evenings soon after sunset, but he wi/1 be very far north and consequently very near tho -horizon.

. X en '* s I s j n a barren part of the constella. imn I iscea Her light is now waning very perceptibly, but she is still a line object in the morning sky. She rises about a quarter to 4 am.

5. Mars is now becoming very bright; he is in Sagittarius, not far from a nebulous-looking an outlier of the milky way, which is well worth looking at even through' a telescope ot Very moderate sire, Hp. rises'at about a to eight in tlio ovoniug. It is iinpossible to mis lake him for anything else ; his large size and fiery red color will cause him to be at once dirtim-nished. Hut although Mars is even now a splendid object, ho will he nearly three times as bright in about six weeks’ time. His apparent diameter is now about ICiseae. He will consequ' ntly show a distinct disc in any telescope that will bear a moderately high power say 15 to 20 Mars will be at the stationary point on the 19th.

6. Jup.tei is in the constellation V-irgo, and still slowly retrograding in the direction of the bright star Spica. This planet is past opposition, hut it will he some time before his hijghtn< bB is considerably diminished, A good fieldglass, magnifyi'-g foqr pr five diameters, will show l;is rpoons when they are at any considevablo distance from the planet. Jupiter vises at about a quarter past four in the- a tenmon. 7. Saturn is just between Aqnnviua and Hapncornus, not far from the star delta, of the constellation, He rises at abtfat a OiM'tbr b! an ho'tfr af n i^nicht.

8. Uranus is not far from his old position, to the east, of the “ beehive,” in Cancer. 9. Neptune is now a morning star.