The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-01-31
ORION.

In the starlit winter night no casual
observer can fail to notice a group of
brilliant stars rising maiestically in the
eastern sky, and unlike any thing else
in the heavens. An elongated parallelo-
gram, with band of three bright stars
in the centre, and row of stars running
obliquely downward, forms the outline
of the grandest of all the consultations.
1t is called Orion, and mythic lore lends
It's treasures of inspiration to fancy, and,
taking the shining outlines for frame
work, interweaves and surrounds them
with the lofty stature and noble bearing
of the mighty hunter whose proud boast
1T was that there was nothing on earth
he could not conquer.
Bellatrix and Betelguese shines as
epaulets on the broad shoulders, Rigel
glows in diamond-hght on the left foot,
while the paler lustre of Saiph sparkles
on the right knee A triangle of three
small stars marks the head, and the gir-
die is formed by three stars of the
second magnitude, running frem north
west to southeast. There are no other
stars in the heavens like them for posi-
ton and brightness, and they are there
fore named the Three Stars They are
also called the Three Kings, because
they point out the Haydes and Pleiades
on the one side and Siriuson the other
The University of Leipsic called them
Napoleon. But the more common name
for them, including the sword, is the
Ell and Yard, as the line which unites
them is just three degrees in length,
and is divided by the central star into
two equal parts, thus serving as a grad
mated standard to an experienced eye to
measure the distance from star to star
The row of stars running obliquely
downward forms the sword, and is often
called the Ell, because it Is once and a
quarter the length of the yard few
degrees west of the Bellatrix, in the
shoulder, there are eight small stars,
which point out the skin of the lion in
the left hand.
"First, next the Twins, see great Orion rise;
His arms, extended, stretch DER half the skies;
His stride as large and, with a steady pace,
He marches on and measures vast space;
On each broad shoulder bright star displayed,
And three oblquely grace his hanging blade.
In his vast head, immersed in boundless spheres,
Three stars less bright but yet as great he bears,
But farther of removed their spendor's lost
Thus graoed and armed, he leads the starry host"
This constellation comes to the merid-
ian on the 23d of January, and, as the
equinoctial passes through the middle
of it, it can be seen by all the habitable
world It contains seventy-eight visible
than two thousand. Galileo found
eighty in the belt, twenty-one in a neb-
ulous star in the head, and five hundred
in another part of Orion within the COM
pass Of one or two degrees
Orion abounds in rare astronomical
curiosities and fields of fertile specula-
ton to the metaphysical mind. 1t is a
constellation rich in double and multiple
stars, clusters, and nebule. In the
month of January its leading brilliant,
Betelguese, is almost exactly ON the
meridian, and almost exactly halfway
between the horizon and the zenith.
From this circumstance the star receives
It's name, the meaning of which is "the
arm-pit of the central one"-Orion being
called "the central one," because he is
divided centrally by the equator.
Betelguese is one of the most remarka-
BILE variables in the heavens. Sir John
Herschel records, in 1886, that these
variations were marked and striking. In
1852 this star was brighter than Capella.
and the largest star in the Northern
Hemisphere. Huggins found, from ex-
animation by spectrum analysis, decisive
evidence of many elements known to
exist in our sun, although the lines indi-
eating the presence of hydrogen were
Rigel, the brightest star below the
belt, Is a noted double, whose compo-
'nents are orange and blue. One of the
stars in the head is triple star, and a
little star in the sword can be resolved
into six by powerful telescope, four
of them forming a trapezium, and two
others so minute as to form test of the
power of the telescope.
But the great nebula surrounding the
stars in the sword, and discovered by
Huyghens in 1856, is in many respects |
the most wonderful object in the hea-
vens. 1t is clearly visible to the naked
eve on a moonless night, the only time
suitable for the examination of the ne
bula. All that the ordinary observer
perceives is n strange indistinctness
around the middle star of the sword, of
which the smallest telescope reveals the |
explanation for the object is not star.
but a diffused baze. Examined with
telescope of greater power, the hazy
appearance still continues, but it begins [
to take on strange and fantastic forms,
though remaining a shapeless mist, with /
not vestige of star.
Still more powerful telescopes reveal /
a most remarkable and awe-inspiring .
object. In form, the brightest portion /
resembles the head and yawning jaws 1
of some monstrous animal with fantas- /
tic, branching arms. Many stars are
scattered over it, which have no connec- (
ton with it, and the sextuple star be- /
fore mentioned occupies a conspicuous /
position close to the brightest portion,
at almost the edge of the opening of the /
laws. while with the area of the trape- /
zium no nebula exists. The general as
pect of the curious portion adjacent to .
the trapezium, and forming the square /
front of the head, is broken up into |
masses, the mottling and curdling light |
of which indicates, by a sort of granular /
texture, that it consists of clusters of |
stars
Such was the development of this ne
bula when the scientific world watched (
with intense interest its examination by /
Lord Roses telescope. In 1S45 the |
great instrument was directed toward /
the mysterious object. The first inspec-
ton was not successful. There was not /
the faintest trace of star. The nebula
lay looming, unintelligible as ever But
the brighter parts were more brilliant,
the interior of the mass more broken.
Innumerable stTeamers were attached
to it on every side, while its great
branching arms rose in relief out of the
1orE aky like n bupa punu clOud