part of its orbit, (its perihelion) was 880,000 miles in an hour, and so closely did it approach the sun, that supposing the centrifugal or projectile force to have been annihilated at this point of its course, it would have fallen into the sun in less than three minutes!

In the sphere of the fixed stars, there is reason to believe that bodies are in motion, whose velocities are proportionably greater than any in the planetary system. One of the double stars completes its revolution in fiftyseven years; in estimating the orbit described by a lesser sun about a greater, it will not be necessary to suppose (though probably it is the case) that the two bodies are as remote from each other as the nearest fixed star is from our sun,-namely, twenty billions of miles; were it even admitted, that the line of separation between them was only a twentieth part of this distance, the revolving star would then move at the rate of 12,000,000 miles in an hour! This motion, observed among many of the fixed stars, confirms the belief, that our sun, with its bright retinue of comets, planets and satellites, is moving forwards through space, with a velocity past conjecture; it is therefore probable that the solar system will never, in the course of its most protracted duration, ever revisit any part of the same curve or line it has moved over since the creation!

Spirit alone can distance the career,
Orb above orb ascending, without end!
Circle in circle, without end, enclosed!
Wheel within wheel, Ezekiel, like to thine!
Like thine, it seems a vision or a dream;
Though seen, we labour to believe it true!
What involution! what extent! what swarms
Of worlds, that laugh at earth! immensely great!
Immensely distant from each other's spheres!

This then is the scene, and these are the objects, amongst which we are again to expatiate; which deserve the profound attention of every individual who professes to admire the works of the Great Creator,He who sits enthroned in glory unapproachable, sustaining all the vast orbs which his hands have made, ruling over each as the Governor, supplying the necessities of all, as the bountiful Benefactor, and wherever intelligence is implanted in these vast realms of material existence, leaving not himself without witness that he is at once the sole source of life and felicity: :

A Sovereign which o'er all things rolls his eye,
Extends his wing, promulgates his commands,
But, above all, diffuses endless good;

To whom for sure redress, the wrong'd may fly,
The vile for mercy, and the pained for peace;
By whom the various tenants of these spheres,
Diversified in fortunes, place, and powers,
Raised in enjoyment, as in worth they rise,
Arrive at length (if worthy such approach)

At that blessed fountain-head from which they stream.

JANUARY.

Obliquity of the Ecliptic.

The magnitudes of this angle at several epochs during the present year are exhibited in the following

TABLE.

January 1st, the true obliquity is.. 23° 27′ 34′′.6

The lunar equations of the equinoctial points at the

same times are as follow; namely,

The sun enters Aquarius at 29 min. after 11 of the night of the 20th of this month.

Conjunctions of the Moon with the Planets and Stars.

January 4th, with Mercury, at 8 morning.

PHENOMENA PLANETARUM.

Mercury will be stationary on the 1st of this month. 5th day perihelion. Inferior conjunction at 30 min. after 6 of the evening of the 10th. Greatest north latitude on the 15th. Stationary near in Sagittarius on the 21st.

Venus will attain her greatest north latitude on the 9th.

Phases of Venus,

The proportions of the bright and dark phases of this planet are as follow:

January 1st.-Illuminated part = 6.8125

Mars in his descending node on the 3rd. In conjunction with B in Ophiuchus at 5 in the morning of the 19th.

Vesta on the 9th in conjunction with in Cancer, the asteroid one and a half degree south of the star. In opposition on the 25th between y and in Cancer, and four degrees north-east of Præsepe, a beautiful cluster of stars; this small planet may be known by its pure white light, unattended with any nebulosity; it shines with a brilliancy equal to that of a star of the sixth magnitude, and in favorable positions, may be seen without the assistance of a telescope.

The elements of the orbit of Vesta, and other particulars, are as follow:

It performs its sidereal revolution in 1325.7431 mean solar days and its mean synodical revolution in 503.41 days.

Its mean longitude, at mean noon, at Greenwich, on January 1st, 1820, was in 278° 30′ 0′′.4.

Its mean motion in its orbit, in a mean solar day, is 16′ 17′′.9516: its mean motion in 365 days is consequently 99° 9′ 15′′.33.

The longitude of its perihelion, on January 1st, 1820, was in 249° 33′ 24′′.4, with an apparent annual motion of+1' 34".24.

Its orbit is inclined to the plane of the ecliptic, in an angle of 7° 8' 9", with an annual decrease of 0".12.