ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 January 1917, Page 3

ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA.

Seven Eclipses this Year. Moon Twice Obscured. Astronomically considered tbe year 1917 is decidedly more interesting than either I9IG or 1918 being marked by seven eolipses tbe maximum number that can occur in any one year. In every year not leas than two, or more than seven eolipses occur. This year two will be total eolipses of the moon viable in New Zealand, one on tbe evening of Janaary 8, and the other on the evening of December 28. On Janm.*-- 29. *> partial solar eclipse will be vi* Russia and Siberia while ano l i ' 09 19 will be confined almost outiikly to regions within the Arctic Circle, On the morniDg of July 5 a total laaa? eolipw slll ocw

but wilt ho in visible in New Zaalaud because ic wdl ncn commence till the mcon has Bet, Again, ou July 19, an observer suitably situated in Ania.ctioa wouid ebe a small portion of the suti eclipsed, but on Dscor be-r 14 he wonld be more favoured, and would witness an annular eclipse. Curiously enough one of the boat localities from which to view this iattsr eclipse wonld be the South Pole itself. Finally, on Snnday, March 4, a most striking cccahaticm of S.turo by the moon may ha witnessed. The distance of the earth float the sun varies tho maximum variation being about three mtiiiou mi’es or just over 3 per cent of the mean dietaice. The earth will be nearest, or in perihelion, on January 3, and iutfcbost “-way, or in aphelion, on July 4. This is because tho path of the earth aronrd the sun in an ellipse, nut a t?uo oirclo. It must Dot, however, he imagined that the excessive heat in January it- in any wey eonmeted with our nea< Ovß.i to the gnu.

Torningito the systematic survey of the major planets it will be found that Venus will appear as an evening star in the spring and continue to increase in brightness till Janua'y 5, 1918. Mars will not bB favourably situated for observation next vear, being for tl a most part too eioee to the sun, although in winter it wdl ef-" pear as a morni-g star., end by the end of the year may be seen bcf..ro midnight. Jupiter, now an evening star, will continue to be visible as such until about Easter. la June it w-11 re-appsar in the morning aky, while after August it will rise before midnight, and will be seen to advantage in the last three monthis of the y-'ar. Saturn, in Gemini, near Castor and Pollux, is likewise an evouieg Biar at present, continuing as such till June, and re-appearing as a morning stir in September. In 1918 there will be two eclipses of the sun, and a partial eclipse of the moon. Of these the lunar eclipse, ou June 24, will he the only cue visible iu New Zealand.