ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR APRIL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8391, 3 April 1907, Page 3

ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR APRIL.

(Special to Age). The sun is in the constellation Pis■ces till the 19th, when he enters Aries. His declination—North—increases by about ten degrees during '. the month, and his altitude decreases, at noon, by a like amount, during the same period. The altitude of the sun - at Wanganui on the 4th and sth being - about 45 degrees at apparent noon, the shadow cast by any object at .that time should be equal to its height. Sun spots were fairly plentiful at the beginning of March, but the great activity of February was not apparent in the latter aspect of the solar surface. The moon in her monthly circuit of the heavens, comes into the vicinity of the planets and some of the brighter stars and serves an a convenient pointer to them. She will be neai' Mars on the sth, morning; Venus on the 9th and 10th: Saturn on the 10th and 11th; and Jupiter on the lbth and 19th. ' She will pass through the following constellations on the evenings Stated, and in the order given: —As a crescent in Taurus on the J 6Lh and 17th, and near Alpha (Aldebnranlf ■on the 16th; Gemini on the 18th, 19th' ' and 20th, near the bright stars Cas- ' tor and Pollux on the 20ih t Cancer on,the 21st and 22nd, and close to the pretty cluster of stars called the Beehive on the 22nd, Leo on the 23rd and 24th, and close to the bright star Regulus on the evening of the 23rd, Virgo XronAtbe 25th to the 28th, and near ,the bright star Gamma on. the 26th, and Spica en . ;tho following ovemrjg, Libra on the 29th and ..Scorpion (in the'3oth, and ■ near the bright star Antarea on the ' 30thaboutinno,degrees north. ' • ■ ' Phases of the moon in New Zealand j ' ihean.time I :—Last.quarter, b' days 2 j i. hours-50 roin. a.m.; new moon, 13 - .<days ,6 hours 36 min. a.m.; first'' * quarter, 21 days 8 hours 8 min. a.rr.; | ' full moon, 28 days 5 hours 35miri. p.m. -" .Mercury id a morning star throughout, the month in the constellations '* Aquarius and Pisces,. He will be in '■■ conjunction with Saturn on the 9th, v with the*moon on 'the evening of tho 10th(below our horizon), in Aphelion op the early morning of the 18th, at western elongation on the v■' 15thj being then 27.6 degrees west of ■-■ the sun's place, and in a first-el ass position for morning, observation, ... being-in. southern declination-at the ~ time. . . Venus, is also a morning star in the constellation Aquarius at the middle of the month. She will be in con- ;'' junction with the moon on the-even-ing of the 9th, but invisible at the j; time, • being below our horizon. She will also come into conjunction with ' '" Saturn on the early morning of the 22nd, and in Aphelion at about midnight of the 30th. ■■ Mars is now an evening star, rising . in the constellation Sagitarius shortly : after 9 p.m. on the 15th. He is in conjunction with the moon on the ( ' 6th. He may be easily identified j lying to the right of the" Scorpion, j 'his ruddy hue making him conspicu-. . -ous even at this time although his brilliancy will increase very considerably from this onwards to oppo-1 aition. jn July.... '

",." Jupiter is still an evening star in vGemini, moving forward under the stars' Eta and Mu of this constellation. He crosses the Meridian during the middle of the month at about 5 p.m. and comes into conjunction, with 1 the. moon on the ; morning of the,.l9th, appearing near that body oh thistand th 6 preceding evenings. His belts , may be Veil seen on any clear evening ,'when a steady atmosphere preand transits, occulations. or may be looked for on the following evenings:— j 4th, sth, 6th, 1 tab, ( 10th, ■ 11th, 12th, 13th 14th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 23rd, 25th, 28th, 29th; 30th. Saturn is now a morning star in the constellation Pisces, moving forward. . Ho will be in conjunction with the Moon on the 10th and in conjunction , With Venus on, the 22nd. Uranus is an evening star in Sagi- , tarius, moving forward amongst the ,'. stars. ,He will be in quadraturejwith I the sqn ! on the 4t.b, in conjunction With the moon on the following day, . and stationary amongst the stars on the 18th of the month. Neptune is an evening star in ' Gemini, moving forward between the /»ta»= Zeta and Ensilon.in that eon- , stellation/ He will come into con- , .junction with the moon on the evening of the 19th. , ; Meteors.—There, is a radiant due . , -about.the 20th.in Tibera, north of the :';■ gtar Beta. These .have been observed t asmovingfslowly, and leaving trains. The constellations for the middle of ••■ the month at about 8 p.m. are as follows.: —Leo, which the fine star Regiilus (in the "Sickle") is the most attractive star. Above this will be seen the long trailing form of the Water . Snake. , Eaßt of Leo is Virgo, the 'brightest'atar, named Spica now well -above the horizon, and overjthis. may . be seen Corvus and Crater. Bootes will be, seen just rising in the north<east/. Libra away south,, well above ■ the horizon, and preceding the Scorpion, whose big red star is seen to scintillate very considerably, as do all the bright'stars when near the horizon. Over tlhe Scorpion is the Centaur-and the' Southern Cross, followed by the Southern Triangle and ' Ara. Or. the southern horizon may be seen the Peacock and Toucan, followed by the long', trailing shape of Eridanufl —the Eiver-r-the bright star Achernar—the last in the River being now with us, the first, a fact the ancients possibly did not contemplate. South-weiit is bright star Canopus, these is the the brightest in the Major. In the wes't'OiJiojh .Will be seen close to this horizon,, passing away from our iwifiiteri skies as'the ■ Scorpion appears iin the; east. Gem irii is also nearing the north-western horizon, followed by dancer— the Crab—in which constellation may ' be seen that pretty naked'eye clus- - ;ter the, which- looks ex- ■' tremely well in a good pair of binocu- , . lars! , . *' , , The; Milky Way at this time lies , nearly due north-east and south-west, . and from its southern extremity right , across the sky presents a mass of ,'; beautiful objects that will well repay • observation. A pair of good binocu- ' lars will show a good deal here, and some of jthe ■ views obtained in this :'Y thickly-strewn p<>rtion of the galaxy ' will prove a surprise to those who "' have ,-never viewed them under these conditions. THE HON. DIRECTOR, * Wanganui Observatory. r yiWanganni, March 30th, 1907.