Original caption: Hardly had the fiery Mars receded from its earthly opposition and from the public eye, when observers at the Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago were focusing a giant telescope on Venus, feminine fire-eater, who has dominated the morning skies for the past week as the official morning star. At present, Venus is showing in the form of a crescent. It has a heavy atmosphere, which probably prevents ever seeing the surface of the planet itself. It is nearly a twin to the earth, in respect to size and probably mass. It is also the nearest to the earth of any of the large planets. Its average distance from us is 67,000,000 miles. Here is shown the interior of the Yerkes Observatory.