Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1879 — The Autumnal Equinox. [ARTICLE]

The Autumnal Equinox.

..The autumnal equinox took place ye§tvrday, t he 23d of September, and the earth is in that delightful condition of equilibrium indicated by the crossing of thfe celestial equator and ecliptic. The celestial pole anti the terrestrial one point in the same direction, and the sun sends its benignant rays with undeviating partiality over that portion of the terrestrial sphere extending from pole to pole. Equal day and night mark this delightful period of the earth's revolution, while to-day the sun rises to the south pole after its six months day. Autumn commences astronomically the day when the sun enters the sign Libra, or the Scales, and continues until the winter solstice. But it is only for a point of time that the golden scales hang evenly balanced, and the great circles are intertwined. Today a change comes. The southern scale is more heavily freighted with sunlight, the sun goes into southern declination, and the night exceeds the day in length.

s A curious phenomenon is connected with the crossing of the equator and ecliptic. The points of intersection change every year, so that each succeeding equinox happens a little earlier than it would otherwise do. This is called the Precession of the Equinoxes, because the equinox seems to meet the sun earlier. The annual recession is very small—only fifty seconds of a degree, equal to about twenty minutes in time; bnt small as it appears it has amounted to thirty degrees since it was first observed more than two thousand years ago. Wherever the sun crosses the equinoctial in the autumn there is the autumnal equinox, and, as this point is constantly retrograding, the Tongitade of the stars is constantly increasing. This anomalous movement is easily accounted for. The sun, moon and planets exercise a strong attraction on the bulging mam at the earth’s equator. In consequence of this, the pole of the earth is constantly changing its position and re-

During the passage of this period the equinoctial points win retrograde around the whole circle. The equilibrium will then be restored, and a new revolution of a similar kind commenced. The change during an ordinary life is so small as hardly to be appreciated, though the study of this memo with the phenomena depending upon it is of exceeding interest.— Providence ( B. I.) Journal.