Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1892 — To Tell Time at Night. [ARTICLE]

To Tell Time at Night.

Most u people on a clear day can without a watch or other timepiece, form a closely approximate idea of the time of day by the position of the sun, but few, perhaps, have guessed at any similar method of computing the time during the night without any other means than the “starry skies.” Notwithstanding, a fairly reliable time Indicator can be found In the northern skies on every cloudless night. As is generally known, the group of mixed stars called the “Dipper” makes an apparent revolution toward the north star in every twenty-four hours, with the two stars forming the outer elevation of the bowl of the dipper pointing to the polar star continuously. If the position of the pointers is taken at any given hour, say 6 o’clock in the evening in winter time, and as soon as it is dark in the summer, the hour can thereafter be pretty accurately measured by the eye during the night. Frequent observations of positions will have to be made at the given hour, as, owing to the constant changing of the earth’s position in space, the position of the “pointers” in relation to our point of observation and the star also changes. Observations taken during a year and impressed on the mind will make a very good time indicator of that part of celestial space.