The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-03-13

The moon is dark" during the first ten
days of the present month and the heavens are
therefore favorable to study of the stars. The
planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars are still in
the armament, but they have receded to such
| great distances from the earth as to have OWN.
died to the dimensions of stars of the first and
second magnitude. Indeed, several of the
fixed stars-Sirlus, Capella and Arcturus-
now exceed them In brightness and greatly
surpass them in beauty, and during the pres.
ent week and part Of the next these and other
stars of the first magnitude may be examined
to great advantage.
Sirius first claims attention. Like a great
actor his presence fills the stage. One cannot
lit his eyes to the heavens without taking
him into view. Even when the eve is not di-
rected at HIM he asserts his majesty and glory
in the flood of white light, family tinted with
blue, that streams on the vision. All the fixed
stars are suns, the centres of other systems, and
Sirius is called the king of suns He is ap.
proXimately estimated to be LOO times as
large As our sun, l,OOO,OO0O0O miles farther
away from Us than our sun, and to give light
300 times greater. He belongs to what is called
the first order of suns, those that shine with Il
white Ilght--our sun belonging to the second
order whose light is yellow. All the planets
when examined by a telescope, expand from Il
point OF light into II disc like the moon; but
Sirius, the blazing dog-star of the ancients,
lies at such "A tremendous distance that the
most powerful telescope when brought to bear
upon him fails to bring HIM to the disc phase
He appears rs mighty fountain of light but
revealing no surface. He is called a double
star, having IA small companion of the tenth
magnitude, visible only with telescope He
Is spoken of rs yellow star in ancient records
but is now clearly white, a fact which proves
the changes in his constitution or habits that
have taken place IN three thousand wears In
The same quarter of the heavens is the beauti-
ful star Rige IN the advanced foot OF Orion.
1t is an orange star to astronomers, though the
ordinary observer would call it white. II l.
double, like the dog.star, having blue com
paniOn of the seventh magnitude The bright
est star in the uplltled shoulder of Orion is
BE tegucse. To the naked eye it appears
slightly inferior TO Rigcl in the foot. but as
uonomers call it the larger. The difference
may be attributable to the waxing and waning
of the star, for it is variable one, shining at
times with a more brilliant lustre than at 9th.
ers. To the east and north of Betclguese Is
ProcyOn, star OF the first magnitude II is
yellow, and double, having a small orange
The two bright stars to the north
OF it are the Twins, Castor and Pollux, the
former, or uppermost one, being called the
hitSb bpublC SNdl III INT utdF tllS. lblluA Is
a triple star, having two companIons-for the
fixed stars are double, triple, quadruplc and
even octuple, accordingly As the telescope re-
solves them into two, three, four or eight bod |
les. Turning TIE eye to the eastward, in the |
neighborhOOd of the Pleiades, but west Of that /
little group, Aldebaran will be seen in the TRAN
gular group called Hyades, or rainy stars,
which forms the bulls head. 1t is a bcauti |
ful red star, quite Is bright aud beautiful now |
as the planet Mars in the same neighborhood, |
with which ii must not be confOundcd Al
most Immediately overhead Is Capella, the |
brightest star in the constellation Aurga, and |
one of the brightest in the Northern hcmis- |
phere. Sirius, it must be remembered, Is south |
IF the cquinOctal, which cuts Orion at the |
belt amt belongs, therefore, to the Southern .
hemisphere. These remarks are intended for
an observation taken at halfpas; seven Igthc
observer will turn from Capclla so rs to face
% the east, he will see, about midway between
he horizon and the zenith, the bright star
Regulus, inferior To Capella, Procyon and RI
gel, but still classed in the first magnitude Ii
S in the constellation of the Lion. It forms |,