ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR OCTOBER, 1915.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 90, 1 October 1915, Page 1

ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR OCTOBER, 1915.

(Contributed by Mr L. J. Comrie,

THE SUN. Tbe sun's path this month is in the constellation, of the Virgin. On the 16th it pass, a close t> tbe bright alar Spica, bus the lattsr ot course will not be visible. It now rises and sjtß to the south of east and weet, by an amount varying from four degrees tbe beginning if the month to seventeen d.grees at the end. Ihe middle of tbe day is not necessarily twelve o'clock by our clocks; sometimes it is before and sometimes it is aft-r. There are two reasons fur this. In the first place all New Zealand clocks kerp one standard time—viz , tbe time for tbe longitude of 172 degrees 30' Eaßt, or in other words thsy ate eleven and a half hours ahead of ureenwich time. If Pukekone clocks were to keep local time they would be nine and a half minutes faster than they are. But it would obviously be inconvenient if each town kept its own local time, so a standard time is adopted. The, other reason to which 1 referred is the fact that the sun doea not move quite uniformly round tbe heavens, whereas our clocks must be uniform to be of any service. The sun's non-uniformity is partly due to the fact that the earth moves in an ellipse and not in a circle. At tbe end of this rconth, for instance, the true mid-day, or middle of the d»y, occurs at 11.35 a.m. IHE MOON. The phases of the moon are as follows: October. New moon 9th 9.12 a.m. First quarter 16th 1.21 a.m. Full moon 23rd 11.45 a.m. Lest quarter 31st 4.10 p.m. Perigee 11th 11.30 p.m. Apogee 27th 10.30 p.m. Distance at Perigee, 226,500 miles. Distance at Apoaec, 252,000 miles. The times at which the moon rises, and its azimuth from the east towards the north, on certain dates or just after full moon are:— 0 ctober 22nd 5.33 p.m. 15 degrees 23rd 6.35 p.m. 21 degrees 24th 7.36 p.m. 27 degrees 25th 8.37 p.m. 31 degrees 26th 9.35 p.m. 34 degrees 27th 10.30 p.m. 35 cttgrees 28th 11.18 p.m. 34 degrees 29th midnigfit 32 degrees 30th 12.36 p.m. 28degreis PATH OF THE MOON. Vety litte will be seen of the mooa, expect in the eurly morning, until after new moon on the 9th. On the morning of the 6th it is very close to Rcgulus in tbe Lion. On the evening of the 12th, wben three and a hall days old, it may be seen below Antares in the Scorpion; on tbe following evening it is above the same star. For tbe next two nights it is in Sagittarius, then in Capricornus for two rights On the 20th it passes to the north of Jupiter, but does not come within i about six degrees of the latter. On the 23rd, the night on which it is full, it is in Aries the Ham; two nights later in the late evening it passes through the well known Pleiades. Wben it riaes at midnight on tbe 29th it will be close to the twins Castor and Pollux, and also about three degrees to the north of Saturn. MEKCL'KY at the beginning ot the month is an evening star, setting nineteen degrees southwaid of west -ibout two hours later tban the sun. In about ten days it will be too close to the sun for observation, but reappears ss a morning star near Spica about the beginning of November. On the Ist November it rises about 40 minntea before the sur. VENUS, in Libra, will be visible as an evening star by the end ot this month, although it is several months before she attains her maximum brilliancy On the 31st she sets twenty-two degrees south of west an hour later than the sun. MARS in the inconspicuous constellation of Cancer the Crab is still a morning star. It rises about half past two at the beginning of the month, and an hour earlier at the end. It rises some twenty-five degrees north of east. After a few months Mars will be visible in tbe early evening. JUPITER, in Pisces, is still the most brilliant feature of the evening sky. i am sure that all my readers must have noticed an exceptionally bright star in the east after sur set, and have recognised in it tbe greatest of all the planets. Jupiter is, of course, one of the most familiar names in classical mythology. By Greeks he was called Zeus, and was euppoßcd to dwell on Mount Olympus in Grecee, a mountain which was supposed to mark the centre of the earth, and also to reach heaven. Jupiter was the father of all the gods, and with his queen Juno waß supposed to rule the world. The Romans worshipped him »s the god of raio, storm?, thunder and lighti.ing, and erected statues and temples that were ttacrcd to him. His four satellites have classical names also—lo, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto—although modern astronomers denote them by the more cold blooded Roman numerals 1., 11, 111., IV. Io was a daughter of the first King if Argos, and was beloved by Jupiter, who, through fear of the goddess Hera, changed her into a

heifer. However, Utra torment d ter with a gadfly, dnvirg her Lorn land to land until sh« rescind the banks uf ihe Nile, where she recovered her original form. Ihe Bosporcs, it,, Ux-ford, is sail to have c'erived its name from her 6Wim ming across it. Europa was also a mental miiden by whom Jupiter waa lascinaUd. He succeedei la carrying her cif to Crct3 by means of a cunning strategy. Callisto was an Arcadian nymph, likewise beloved by Juriter, who mD.tam:irphased hjr into a she-bear. However, she was slain by Artemis, hit form.r companion in th? chase.

At the beginnirg of the month Jupitir riees just after half-past four, lwl by the end of the month two and a quarter hours earlier. He rises seven degree? sjuth ot east.

SATURN, still in Gemini the Twins, will soon be an evening star. Although it rises now juet after halt past one in the mornin?, vet in a month's linn it will (how itself a little before midnight. it should be looked for twenty-eight degrees from east towards the north. MINOR PLANETS.

Two of the minor planets or asteroids, are at present visible in Bmall telescopes. C-rts, of Ihe Bih magnitude, the first asteroid to be discovered, is in Taurus, while Pallas, a magnitude fainter, which ranks second in order of discovery, i 3 in Aquarius, not far from Jupiter. None of these asteroids are visible to the naked eye. THE FIXED STARS.

Arcturus has now disappeared in the west, while Spica will not be seen for many days more. Vega may still be seen after sunset in the north-north-west. The Scorpion adorns the western sky in the early evening, but disappears by midnight. In the north, Altair ard tbe Great Square of Pegesus may still be. seen. The latter now rises to its greatest altitude, about thirty degrees, at eleven o'clock in the evening. Fomalhaut, in the otherwise insignificant constellation of tbe Southern Fish, rises almost to the - zenith. It lies between the constellation of Grua the Crane which I previously described, and Jupiter. In tbe eouth-east Archernar may be teen high up, while Canopus is loner down. The Southern Cross sinks to its lowest altitude at halfpast eleven, when it is exactly vertical it is due scutti; its uppermost star it will tc remembered receives the name if Alpha Cruci?. In the east seme of the must interesting aeterhms.are reaDpearing. Tourus the Bull, wi'h its bright red star Aldebarau may be seen by eleven o'clock. That little group so i'amiliar to northerner—tte Pkiades— is a part of this constellation. Its central star, Alcjo..c, is biijhtei than any if tbe other?, being of the third magnitude. November and December are really the b.st months for viewing this little cluster. Orio-, with his three ttaritd belt, is comi.l-.tely visible by midnight. It is one of tbe brightest of all constellations and contains two first mangitude starp. Ot these Rigel is a bluish wLite star which rises above tbe belt, while Betelgeuse is a ruddy star an egutl amount below the belt. S rius, the brightest of all fixed stars, is some twenty degrees south ot Orion. Ihe three stars in the belt point almost exactly to Sirius on the south, and approximately to Aldbaran on the north.

Following is a table of stellar phenomena for the Ist of this month. It will be accurate for any other date if the tim|s are diminished by tour minutes for each day that has elapsed since the Ist. The angles given are either tte angular distances from the true east or west, or the altitude ot the star at the particular instant.

p.m. Spica Seta 7.0 13deg S Vega Sets 9.10 52deg N Rigel RiseB 10.1'J lOdee S Alcyone Riaes 10.30 31deg N Aldebaran Ri'cs 10.45 21deg N Antares Sets 11.0 33dfg S SiriUH Rises 11.15 21deg S Betelgeuae Rises 11.40 9deg N Altair Seta 12.40 lldeg N Antares West 6.57 47deg Altair North 7.1 44deg Fomalhaut Gaet 7.27 56deg Fomalhaut Noith 10.7 83dsg Rigil East 11.9 14deg Alpha Crucis South 11.36 lldeg Achernar South 12.48 70deg