Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1872-03-16

| rlRnL knee. just ABOVE lle Ile stars
in the shoulders are three small
stars, which are situated in the head
of the huge giant. Orion seems to
be blessed with more legs than
brains. The three well known stars,
popularly called the Yard, form a
| part of the girdle. The most north
ern of the three is exactly on the ce-
lestial equator, and it viii be con-
venient to remember that of these
stars the central is about q degree
and half from each outer one; that
is, the Yard is three degrees long.
1t thus becomes a good measure of
| the apparent distance of any two
| stars, one from the other. For in
stance, tho two stars in the shoul-
ders are about seven degrees apart,
and those in the foot and knee eight
degrees, The distance from the left
foot to the left shoulder is sixteen
| degrees, etc. Near the belt or cir
die of Orion are three other much
| smaller stars, which form the sword.
If small telescope be pointed to
| the central star of these three, and
moved slowly and cautiously around
! it, the great "Nebula of Orion" will
come into the field of vision, and
present a wonderful appearance. 1t
| is apparently a mass of chaotic mat
ter, of irregular shape, dotted here
and there with we'll formed stars.
One edge of the mass is well defined
for long distance, and as it slowly
crosses the field the observer seems
to look through an opening in the
material universe out into space,
blacker that the blackest night, to-
tally unoccupied by matter. For a
long time it was thought that this
nebula was situated on the very out
skirts of the starry system, but the
great telescope of Lord Rose has
dispelled the illusion by bringing in
to view stars, located in the distant
background, as bright and beauti-
ful as any which adorn the visible
heavens. We are told that were
these remote stars to be now blotted
from existence, millions of years
would roll away before their anni-
solar system. Remembering that
light moves about one hundred mil
lion miles in eight minutes, we have
here a good illustration of the vast
distances reached by our telescopes.
The constellation Orion contains
more than one hundred stars visible
to the naked eye; and many thou
sands more may be seen through a
telescope of even moderate power.
South of Orion, and at seven
O'Clock in the evening of the 10th of
March, just west of the meridian, is
Sirius, the brightest of the fixed
stars. 1t is situated in the nose of
CAMS Major, and is for this reason
commonly called the dog-star.
Through the telescope of Lord
Rosse, this star is too bright for the
eye, which requires a dark glass for
its protection, as when we look at
the Sun. The star is eight times
larger than our Sun, and doubtless
has planets revolving around it eight
times larger than Jupiter and Sat
urn. The other stars of this brill
liant constellation lie south of the
dog star; and still further south,
Just above the horizon, is visible the
splendid star CanOpus in the Ship.
About twenty-five degrees to the
northeast of the dog-star is the
bright star Procyon, in CAMS Minor.
Procyon rises a few minutes be-
fore Sirius, hence its name. Like
Sirius, it is of the first magnitude,
though far less bright. Twenty-Five
degrees north of Precyon are
two other stars of the first magni-
tude, Castor and Pollux. At seven
O'Clock these stars are almost exact
ly overhead. With Procyou, and a
small star in the head of CAMS Mi
nor, they form a long and narrow
of which there are
several instances in the arrangement
of the stars. The largest of these
stars is double; that is, though there
appears to be but single star to the
naked eye, a telescope of no great
power reveals two stars revolving
around common center. a teles-
cope magnifying eighty or a hun
dred times causes them to appear
about an inch apart. In January,
Castor, POlluX, and Jupiter were in
the same right line. To the east
of the twins is Cancer, the crab, dis
tinguished by a remarkable cluster
known as the beehive. Let the tel
escope be turned upon this cluster,
and prestol it is hardly possible to
liken it to a beehive, so changed is
its appearance. Hundreds of stars
are discovered where one was seen
with the unaided eye, and the bees
are too numerous to belong to
single hive. East of the Beehive,
and almost on the ecliptic circle, is
the fine star Regulus in the constel-
lation Leo. 1t is part of the handle
of what is known as the Sickle, an
arrangement of stars in the form of
that implement.
In hn Tho NhrnrY-nr.
will notice the Great Bear. The
head of the monster already touches
the meridian, while his tail is near
the horizon. The star most inter-
estin9 in the Great Bear is in the
handle of the Dipper, and is called
MiZar. Close to it is a little COM
panion star called Alcor. Direct
the telescope to tue two, and Alcor
will be seen far away, while Mizar
will be shown a double star, revolV-
ing in beauty, and presenting an ap-
pearance similar to that of Castor.
The pointers of the Dipper will
show the position of the North Star,
which in turn is in the handle of the
Little Dipper. Between the two
Dippers one cannot fail to notice the
beautiful coils and Kissing tongue of
Draco.
Now turn to the west. The atten-
tiOn is arrested by the constellation
Taurus, in which are located two
fine clusters, Pleiades and Hyades.
The former is commonly known as
the seven stars, the largest of which
is called Alcyone, and is thought to
be the center of the starry system to
which our Sun belongs. If this be
the case, analogy W ould lead to the
conclusion that Alcyone contains
more mattel than all the stars re-
Volving around il combined; n con-
clusiOn not very astounding when
we remember that there is plenty of
room in the universe for an In finite
number of such bodies. The teles-
cope will reveal seventy stars in the
space occupied by seven, as seen
with the naked eve. The great star
in the Hyades, a cluster resembling
harrow, is Aldebaran. 1t is the
bulls eye. Fifteen degrees to the
east of Aldebaran are two stars
forming the tips of very long and
attenuated horns. One of these
stars is south, aud the other north
| of the ecliptic. That on the north
side is also III the heel of Auriga,
| the chariOteer, in which constella-
tion appears the fiery red star Capel-
Ia. West of Capella is Perseus; and
still further west AndrOmeda, in
the girdle of which is the famous
nebula which no telescope has as vet
resolved into stars. 1t is now too
near the horizon to be easily seen,
but in December next it viii appear
in the east, and in position fayora-
BILE for examination.
The month of March gives a good
| opportunity for look at the SOCIAL
| ed ZOdiacal Light. On auy clear