Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-12-30
The Winter Flrmament.


With the opening of December the
brilliant consultations of winter begin
to illume the sky. Whoever at this
season commences to make himself fa-
miliar with the stars will never be like
ly to abandon the study. The glories
Of the armament seem to increase with
closer acquaintance. A star becomes
much more interesting when one knows
its name, and its times and seasons In
the clear, frosty air of winter the chief
stars glitter more brilliantly than cut
gems and the milky way in places re-
sembles frosted silver. Humboldt liked
to describe the appearance of the stars
in the tropics where they glow in the
serene nights without twinkling, but
with wonderful luster. 1t is doubt
full however, whether the tropical skies
exceed in beauty the northern heavens
in winter. The rising of Orion, which
now occurs at about eight o'clock,
seems to make the whole sky brighter.
Before him goes the Bull, with his rose
tinted brilliant Aldebarah flashing in
his forehead and bearing the Hyades
and the Pleiades, the most beautiful of
star clusters. 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 all the
stars. To the left of Capella are the
Twins and following them comes the
Lion, with the great star Regulus,
named after the famous Roman glitter
ing on his breast.
Among all these stars striking differ
ences of color are seen. Orion's prin-
cipal twinklers, Betelgeuse and Rigel,
are totally unlike in hue. The first
named is a pure topaz and the other
has a tinge of sapphire. But the grand
est sight in this splendid constellation
is the Great Nebula in the Sword. Huy-
gems, the Dutch astronomer, who was
the first to see this wonderful object
through telescope, questioned wheth-
er it was not an opening in the heavens
through which he caught a glimpse
of brighter and more glorious regions
beyond. The amateur may apply
every test of excellence to his
telescope without turning it away from
this nebula. The spectroscope shows
that this nebula is not, like many others,
composed of stars, but that it is a vast
mass of glowing gas. Changes are tax
ing place in it which indicate that it
may be condensing into suns and worlds,
just as our solar system grew out of
that state of chaos in which it was
without form and void" Thousands
of millions of years hence, if this view
is correct, when the earth is dead and
the sun burned out, life will make its
appearance upon the untrodden worlds
in this new universe in Orion. Professor
Draper has recently succeeded in photo
graphing the nebula, and thus the
means are supplied of studying its
changes with more precision than has
heretofore been possible.
Perseus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia
may be counted among the winter con
steIlations, although, like the Bears,
their proximity to the pole makes them
conspicuous at other seasons also. Cas-
siopeia, which may be recognized by a
zigzag row of five bright stars, shaped
like section of rail fence, overhead
about eight o'clock, is particularly in
teresting, because there is reason to eX-
pect that the wonderful flaming star of
1872, called the Pilgrim, will soon blaze
out again in this constellation. Tycho
Brahe, the astronomer, says that this
star sprang forth in its full splendor in
a spot where he was sure there was no
star visible an hour before. 1t was 50
bright as to be visible at monday. In
1864 a new star appeared and disap-
peared near the same place and in 945
a similar phenomenon was observed.
So, if these appearances are periodical,
it's return may be looked for at any time
from now until 1890. By calculating
backward it will be seen that an APP
pearance of this star would be due
about the beginning of the Christian
era, and the astrologers of Tycho's time
said the new star was the same that the
Magi saw at the birth of Christ. So
they predicted that the Last Judgment
was at hand. A reappearance of the
Pilgrim in our day would cause no such
alarm, but it would make a profound
sensation among the astronomers for
scientific Ieasons.-M 7. Sun.