Like Venus, keeps near the sun during the entire month, rising on the 1st at 4:24 a. m.; on the 16th, at 3:43 a. m., and on the 30th, at 3:25 a. m., and setting on the corresponding days at 5:22, 5:21, and 5:19 p. m. respectively. His diameter is 4.4″, and his motion 22° 14′ 33.6″ eastwardly (direct). On the 12th, at 10:55 p. m., he is 2° 3′ north of the moon; on the 30th, at 4:00 p. m., 2° 56′ north of Mercury.
JUPITER,
Now that Venus “hides her diminished head,” “does himself proud,” attracting the eye of the most casual observer. His proximity to the star Alpha Leonis (Regulus), particularly on the 30th, when he is about two thirds of a degree north of the latter, detracts nothing from his prominence; but on the other hand, rather renders him more conspicuous. On the 17th, at 10:00 a. m., he is just 90° east of the sun; and on the 20th, at 9:37 p. m., 4° 17′ north of the moon. His diameter decreases during the month from 37.2″ to 34.2″ and he makes a direct advance of 2° 3′ 51″. On the 1st, he rises at 12:25 p. m., and sets next morning at 2:03; on the 16th, he rises at 11:30 a. m., and sets on the 17th at 1:04 a. m.; on the 30th, rises at 10:42 a. m., and sets at 12:14 a. m. on the 31st.
SATURN.
Those who wish to see in all his grandeur this planet with his rings, must not longer delay. Each day brings him nearer the sun, so that by the close of the month his time of setting is only about one hour after sunset. His diameter decreases four tenths of a second of arc, and his motion is 3° 44′ direct. On the 16th, at 9:35 a. m., he is 4° 2′ north of the moon. He rises on the 1st at 7:23 a. m. and sets at 10:05 p. m.; on the 16th, rises at 6:31 a. m., sets at 9:15 p. m.; on the 30th, rises at 5:44 a. m., sets at 8:28 p. m.
URANUS.
This planet will be an evening star, and afford a fine opportunity for observation to those who have the means at hand profitably to view it. Our limited knowledge of its physical properties make it, to the ordinary observer, a matter of little interest. It rises on the 1st at 3:15 p. m., and sets on the 2nd at 3:21 a. m.; on the 16th, it rises at 2:15 p. m., and sets at 2:21 the next morning; on the 30th, it rises at 1:18 p. m. and sets on the 31st at 1:26 a. m. It maintains the same diameter, 3.8″, throughout the month, and makes a direct motion of 2° 13′ 45″. On the 23d, at 4:38 a. m., will be 1° 11′ north of the moon.
NEPTUNE.
And now we come to the “last but not least,” by any means, of our planets—a planet, however, that interests us but very little, as we can only see it through a quite powerful telescope, and then only as a small, pale disk. Yet its movements are ascertained and recorded just as those are of other planets, and so far as we know them, we are just as confident of the obtained results. As much so as we are of the some two hundred and twenty small bodies that are so much nearer to us, whose orbits lie between that of Mars and that of Jupiter; more confident than we are of the orbits of those erratic bodies we call comets, which seem to come and go at pleasure, and were formerly the terror of all who beheld them; and of those other bodies known as meteors, meteorites, or aerolites, which not only terrify those who behold them, but frequently injure and destroy the beings with which they come in contact. In fact, we know that Neptune, although apparently so small, is a globe 34,500 miles in diameter, and so far away as to do us no harm, while there may be thousands of little invisible globes flying around our earth waiting for some favorable opportunity to break away from their restraints and hurl themselves, as those did at Stannern in 1812, or at Orgueil, in France, in 1864, upon our devoted heads or our cherished treasures. Let us, then, respect our obscure and distant friend, with whom we are definitely acquainted, and record his acts as follows: For the first part of the month he will be an evening star; from the 13th, on which date he will be in conjunction with the sun, he will be a morning star; and on the 14th, at 7:47 a. m., will be 2° 15′ north of the moon. His motion will be direct, and amount to 1° 10′; his diameter 2.5″. On the 11th, at 6:00 p. m., he will be 1° 15′ south of Venus. On the 1st he will rise at 5:44 a. m. and set at 7:42 p. m.; on the 16th, rise at 4:48 a. m., set at 6:48 p. m.; on the 30th, rise at 3:54 a. m., set at 5:34 p. m.