45 m. past 4 in the morning: the preceding new Moon is at 11 m. past 7 in the morning of the 20th, and it enters its first quarter at 26 m. past 10 in the morning of the 27th. The time of the Moon's rising for the first five days after she is full, will be as follows, viz. on the 5th of February, 34 m. past 5 in the afternoon. 6 ditto. 14 27 36 On the 1st day of this month the Moon will eclipse the star marked in astronomical catalogues. The immersion will take place at 13 m. past 11 in the evening, when the star will be 7 minutes south of the Moon's centre; and the emersion will be at 13 m. past 12, the star being 8 m. south of the Moon's centre. On the 12th day, the Moon will eclipse the star y. The immersion will happen at 18 m. past 2 in the morning, when the star is 7 m. north of the Moon's centre; and the emersion will take place at 16 m. past 3 in the morning, the star being 10 m. north of the Moon's centre. At 20 m. past 5 in the morning of the 18th, Mercury will be in conjunction with the Sun. On the 24th, at 9 in the morning, Jupiter will be in opposition to that luminary. The eclipses of Jupiter's first satellite for February, that are visible in London and its vicinity, are as follow, viz. the immersions take place on the 3d day, at 42 m. past 2 o'clock in the morning. | 4th, 11 9 - evening. morning. evening. evening. evening. 26th, morning. evening. VIEW OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. In our last month's observations on the Solar System, we have described some particulars relating to the Sun; we shall now continue the subject, acknowledging ourselves indebted chiefly to the discoveries of the indefatigable Dr. Herschel. The Sun agrees with the fixed stars in many particulars; as in the property of emitting light continually, and in retaining constantly its relative situation with but little variation; and hence the Sun is considered as a fixed star comparatively near us, and the stars as suns at immense distances from the earth. The Sun, like many other stars, is supposed to have a progressive motion directed towards the constellation Hercules; and it revolves on its axis in 25 d. 10 h., this axis being directed towards a point about half way between the pole star and Lyra, the plane of rotation being inclined something more than 7° to that in which the earth revolves. The direction of this motion is from west to east. All the rotations of the different bodies which compose the solar system, as far as they have been ascertained, are in the same direction, and likewise all their revolutions about the central bodies, excepting, perhaps, those of some of the comets, and those of one or two of the satellites of the Georgian planet. The time and direction of the Sun's rotation are ascertained by the change of the situation of the spots, which, we have already observed, are very frequently visible on his disk, and which some astronomers suppose to be elevations, and others excavations in the luminous matter covering the Sun's surface. M. Lalande supposes them to be parts of the solid body of the Sun, which, by certain agitations of the luminous ocean, with which he conceives the Sun to be surrounded, are left nearly or entirely bare. Dr. Herschel considers this ocean as consisting rather of a flame than of a liquid substance, and he attributes the spots to the emission of an æriform fluid, H not yet in combustion, which displaces the general luminous atmosphere, and which is afterwards to serve as fuel for supporting the process; hence he supposes the appearance of copious spots to be indicative of the approach of warm seasons on the surface of the earth, a theory which he has attempted, not very successfully, to maintain by historical evidence. The spots are usually surrounded by margins less dark than themselves, which are called shallows, and which are considered as parts of an inferior stratum, consisting of opaque clouds, capable of protecting the immediate surface of the Sun from the excessive heat produced by combustion in the superior stratum, and perhaps rendering it habitable to animated beings. To this theory of the illustrious Herschel, Dr. Young replies, if we inquire into the intensity of the heat which must necessarily exist wherever this combustion is performed, we shall soon be convinced that no clouds, however dense, could impede its rapid transmission to the parts below; besides, he adds, the diameter of the Sun is 111 times as great as that of the earth; and at its surface a heavy body would fall through no less than 450 feet in a single second; so that if every other circumstance permitted human beings to reside on it, their own weight would present an insuperable difficulty, since it would become thirty times as great as upon the surface of the earth, and a man of moderate size would weigh more than two tons. But whatever becomes of these and other very ingenious and highly interesting speculations, it is evident upon all theories that the Sun is an eminent, large, and lucid planet, the first and only primary one belonging to our system. Its similarity to the other globes of the solar system, with regard to its solidity; its atmosphere; its surface diversified with mountains and valleys; its rotation on its axis, lead to the conclusion that it must be inhabited, like the other planets, by beings whose organs are adapted to the pecu liar circumstances of that vast globe. It will perhaps be objected, that, from the effects produced at 95 millions of miles, we may infer, that every thing must be scorched up at its surface. To this it is replied, that there are many facts in natural philosophy which show that heat is produced by the Sun's rays only when they act in a calorific medium: they are the cause of the production of heat by uniting with the matter of fire which is contained in the substances that are heated. On the tops of very high mountains, where clouds seldom come to shelter them from the direct rays of the Sun, regions of ice and snow are always found. Now, if the solar rays themselves conveyed all the heat that we find on this globe, it ought to be hottest where their course is the least interrupted. Add to this that our aëronauts all speak of the coldness of the upper regions of the atmosphere 5 and since, therefore, even on the earth, the heat of the situation depends on the readiness of the medium to yield to the impression of the solar rays, we have only to admit, that on the Sun itself the elastic fluids composing its atmosphere, and the matter on its surface, are of such a nature as not to be capable of any extensive affection of its own rays: and this seems to be proved by the copious emission of them; for if the elastic fluids of the atmosphere, or of the matter contained on the surface of the Sun, were of such a nature as to admit of an easy chemical combination with its rays, their emission would be very much impeded. Another fact in support of this theory is, that the solar focus of the largest lens, thrown into the air, will occasion no sensible heat in the place where it has been kept for a considerable time, although its power of exciting combustion, when proper bodies are exposed to it, should be sufficient to fuse the most refractory substances. The way in which we have considered the Sun is of the utmost importance in its consequences. That stars are suns, can scarcely admit of a doubt. Their immense distance would effectually exclude them from our view, if their light were not of the solar kind. Besides, the analogy may be traced much farther: the Sun turns on its axis; so do many of the fixed stars; perhaps, indeed, all; and this will account for their periodical changes. If stars then are suns, and suns inhabitable, we see at once what an extensive field for animation opens to our view. Analogy may, indeed, induce us to conclude, that since stars appear to be suns, and suns, according to the common opinion, are bodies that serve to enlighten, warm, and sustain a system of planets, we may have an idea of the numberless globes that serve for the habitation of living creatures. But if these suns themselves are a sort of primary planets, we may see some thousands of them, at different times, with the naked eye, and millions with the help of telescopes; and, at the same time, the analogical reasoning still remains in full force with regard to the planets which these suns uphold and support. The Sun is accompanied in his progressive motion among the fixed stars by eleven planetary bodies, of different magnitudes, revolving round him, from west to east, in orbits approaching to circles, and visible to us by means of the light which they receive from him. These are Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Juno, Pallas, Ceres, Vesta, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Georgian planet; which will be considered hereafter in their proper order. The Naturalist's Diary. As yet the trembling year is unconfirmed, The IN February, the weather, in England, is usually variable, but most inclined to frost and snow. thermometer is often down below the freezing point, |