The man who attends to his neighbor’s business generally has his hands
full. So has the man who attends to the motions of his neighbor, the
moon. By the time he investigates her parallax, diameter, distance,
revolution on her axis, sidereal and synodic revolutions, the form of
her orbit, her phases, discusses her physical properties, determines
her heat, height of her mountains, size of her craters, describes her
librations, decides upon the effect she exercises on the weather, and a
thousand more or less of other things, he had better settle down and make
it the business of his life. And if he does, he may be able to show some
good results of his labors. It is well for us that not any single man,
but many men, have given our satellite so much attention; for it is only
by the uniting of the results of their researches that we are enabled
with comparative ease to predict what business our neighbor has on hand,
and when and how she will perform her duties. Thus, we find that she will
this month present the following phases: On the 5th, at 5:47 a. m., full;
on the 12th, at 3:08 a. m., last quarter; on the 19th, at 4:29 a. m., new
moon; on the 27th, at 5:13 a. m., first quarter. She will rise on the
15th at 1:39 a. m., and set on the 1st and 30th at 1:36 a. m. and 1:18 a.
m., respectively. At 12:54 p. m., on the 10th, will be nearest the earth
(in perigee), and on the 25th, at 12:54 (exactly fifteen days later),
farthest from the earth, or in apogee. Greatest elevation on the 12th,
amounting to 66° 54⅔′; least elevation on the 26th, equaling 30° 8′.