Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1880-12-07
SCIENTIFIC.
The Winter Tirmament.

With the opening Of December the
brilliant consultations Of winter begin
to illumc the sky. Whoever mt lhis
season commences TO make himself lil-
miiar with the stars will never be likely
10 abandon the study. The gl0rics Of
the armament seem to increase with
closer acquaintance. A star becomes
much more Interesting when one knows
lbs name, aud its times and seasons. In
the clear, frosty air Of winter the chief
stars glitter more brilliantly than cut
gems aud the Milky Way in many
places resembles frosted silver. Hum
bOljt liked to describe the appearance of
the stars In the tropics where they glow
in the serene nights without twinkIing,
.bUt with wonderful lustrc. II Is doubt
FIJI, however, whether the tropical skies
exceed iu.bcauty the northern hcGyrus
in winter, The rising Of Orion, which
now occurs nj about o'clock, seems TO
make the whole sky brighter Before
him gocs the Bull, with his rosc-tinted
brilliant AIdebuan flashing In his fore
head, aud bearing the llyadcs and the
Plciades, the most beautiful of star
clus,crs Above him shines Capella,
the sacred Goat, carried in The arms OF
the giant Auriga. Behind him chase
the Dogs, with Sirius and PrOcyon, the
first named the brightest of the stars
10 the left Of Capclla are the twins. and
following them comes the Lion, with
the great sta RcguluS, named after the
famous Roman, glttering on his breast.
Among all these stars striking differ
cnCes Of color are seen. Orion's pHnc-
pal twlnklcrs. Rctelgcusc and Rigcl,
are totally unlike in lhuc The first
named Is u pure topaz, lHnd the other has
n tingo of sapphire. But the grandcst
sight In this splendid constellation is the
Great Ncbulu In the Sword. I!uvgcns,
the Dutch astronomer who was the first
TO see this wonderful object through u
telescope, questioned whether it was not
an opening In the heavens through
which he caught glimpse of brighter
and more glorious regions beyond. The
amateur may apply every test Of excel
lcnce to his telescope without turning IL
away from this nebula. The speutro-
scope shows that this nebula Is not, Ike
many others, composed Of stars, but
that Is n vast mass Of glowing gas.
Changes are taking place In II which In
dlralc that lt may be Condenslng into
suns and worlds, just rs our solar sys.
tenn grew out of that state OF chaos IN
which il was without form and yold.p
Thousands Of millions of years hence,
# this view Is correct, when the earth Is
dead and the sun burned out, life will
make its appearance upon the nntrod-
den worlds In this new universe In ORR
on. Prof. Draper has recently succeed
ed In photogrnphtng the nebula, and
thus the means are supplied of studying
It's changes with more precision than
has heretofore been possible.
Pcrscus, Andromcda, and Cassiopcia
may he counted among the winter con-
stcllniions, although, like the Bears,
their proximity to the pole makes them
conspicuous at other seasons also. Cas-
sopea, which may be recognized by u
zlzaag row Of five bright stars, shaped
like q section of rail fence; overhead
abcut o'clock, Is particularly intewst-
ing, because there Is reason to expect
that the wonderful flaming star Of l512,
called the Pilgrim, will soon blaze out
agaln III this constellation. Tycho Brahe
the nstroncmcr, snys that this star
sprang forth In To- full splendor In q
spot where he WAS sure there was no star
visible an hour before. II was 20 bright
as TO be visible ut MONDAY. In 1861 a
now stnr appeared and disappeared near
the same place, and in 0lj singular
phenomenon was observed, SO II these
appearances are periodical, rs return
may be looked for at any time from now
until 1890. by calculating backward u
will be- seen that an appearance OF this
star would be due about the beginning
Of The ChrHtinn crn, and the nslrologcrs
of rycho's time said the new star was
the one that thc Magi saw ut the birth
of Christ. Sc they predicted that the
Last Judgement was Vt hand y reap