ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR APRIL, 1915.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 25, 30 March 1915, Page 1

ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR APRIL, 1915.

(By L. J. Comti--. I

THE SUN. In the beginning of this month ilie fun is in Pixes, and later in the m.mtn it passes into Aries, th? Ham. Eight centuries auo tiifl sun was rrore than half way through Aries before the end of April. Chaucer, a pod of that time, in his prologue to the Canterbury Tales, writes in connection with April, , "The yonge some Had in the Kam his bslfe cours y-ronne." The explanation of the change is t"o complicated to be given here. THE MOON. The phases of the mocn are i s follows Full Moon, March 31st, 5.8 p.m. Last Quarter, April 7tb, 7.12 a.m. New Moon, April 14th, 11.6 p.m. First Quarter, April 23rd, 3.!) a.m. Full Moon, April 30th, 1.49 a.m. Perigee, April 2nd, 11.6 a.m., 224,500 miles. Apogee, April 18th, 3.6 a.m., 252,300 miles. Perigee, April 30th, 6.42 p.m., 222,300 miles. This particular full moon is our "Harvest Moon." The Harvest Moon is always (in the Southern Hemisphere) the one which is full nearest to March 21st. Ihe peculiarity of this moon is that it rises for several nights at almost the same time. This is, however, much more marked in high latitude such aa that of England or Scotland. The following are the times at which the m on rises at Pukekohe:—

Tuesday, March 30th, 5,0 p.m. Wednesday, March 31st, 5.27 p.m. Thursday, April Ist, 5.49 p.m. Friday, April 2nd, 6,28 p.m. Saturday, April 3rd, 7.15 p.m., Sunday, pril 4th, 8.5 p.m. Monday, April sth, 9.5 p.m. Tuesday, April 6ih, 10.10 p.m. Wednesday, April 7th, 11.22 p.m. Thus on April Ist the moon rises but 22 minutes later than cn the previous night, while on April 7th it is one hour and twelve minutes later than on the 6th. PATH OF THE MOON. On the Ist of this month the moon will rise a few degrees to the south of Spica, a bright siar in Virgo. On the 4th it will be fairly close to Antares, a bright fiery red star in the Scorpion. On the early evening of the 19th it will probably occult Keta Tauri, a second magnitude 6tar in the Bull. On the 21st and the following evening it is near the twins Castor and Pollux, On the evenicg of the 24tb it will be eeeu to the westward of Regulus in the Lion, while on the following evening it will be an equal amount to the eastward. MERCURY ia a morning star for the first week of this month. On the mornings of the 4th and sth it is fairly clcse to Mars. VENUS is still a morning star. One may look for her on the early afternoon of the 11th, about three degrees Eouth of the moon. On the morning of the k 16th, Venus will he onesixth of a degree only away from Jupiter, being to the south of that planet. It would be quite woith while for any enthusiast to get up about 4 o'clock to toe this. MARS is a now a morning star. On the morning of Ihe 13th it will be a few degrees south of the moor. JUPITEK, following the fashion, is also a momiDg star this month. On the moining of the 12th it will rise tour or five degrees south of the moon. 1 have already mentioned that it is in conjunction with Venus on the 16th.

SA'IIRN. is cow skwly moving ca.-tsaid to-vsrds Gemir.i. During this month it moves ab; ut t*o degree?. It i* now near the star Jauri. ard is making towards a thi d msg'itude star, Eta Gerrinariem, which it reaches at the en i of May. THE FIXED STARS. Rising below Spica is the constellation of Bootes, or tie Herdsman. Its brightest star is Arcturu?, whicb vies with Capella and Vega for the posit'oa of being the fourth brightest star. It is also famed as bjvinj b.en mentioned by Job, who speaks about the God "which n.aketh Arcturus, Orion, Pleiades, and tfce chambers of the couth." Its position miy easily b2 lound from fc'ii a and Denebola in the tail of the Lien, hy remembering the following iambic: - "From Doneb in the Lion's tail To Spica draw a line; Then will these two with Arcturus A bright triangle 6hine." To the ea6t £i:d right of Spica n the zodiacal constellation of Libra, or the Scales. Jt has oily three bright stars which lie half way between Spica and Antares in the Scorpion, a corsteliation which rises in the south-east, and which 1 will describe next month. The Romar.s cilled the Virgin Astraea goddess of Justice, anl the Scales her Balance, in which she weigned the men. * ' CULMINATIONS.

; below ate the times at which certain bright stars c:oss the meridian, i.e., are due rorth or touth, on the first of tte month, and their altittuda at transit, as it is call d. They will come to the same position approximately tuur mi: uts£y(exactlv % 'J3iin 56 seconds) later each day, Thtse times have been calculated lor the latitude and longitude of the Seddon Memorial Pukekohe. At Waiuku nearly one minute must be added, while at places to toe of Puk|kohe the transit occurs fa' few m«i&es iaili°r, If a magnetic [ needle i 3 used for finding tfft i meridian allowance must be made for its deviation; it points l ** (in | this pattJot the world) ]5 d?gr§es j east of true north. Wheri a star culminates (01 transits) it is,.at its highest altitude. "A Knowledge of the time of transit of a atar is frequently utilised by serveyors snd explorers for finding the direction ol or true south, >. AltiStar., Bearing. Transit, tude. p.m. deg. vSmtts'"' North 5.57.7 69V» ! Castor North G. 45.3 20-' , 4 Procyon North G. 51 47 Vi j Pollux North 6.56.2 '24 1 4 Beta Argus South 8.28.3 S?Regulus North 9.19.6 lOV2 ' Denebola North 11.0.2 3<S Alpha Crutis South H. 37.2 GiU a.m. j Spica JS'orth 12.35.9 63H The last star really transits in the morning of the 2nd.