Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1881-11-12
Soatbem STANDARD.
McMlNNVILLE, TENNESSEE.
Objects Of Interest in ihe sht.


The planets now visible IN the east
are, in the order In which thew ascend.
Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. Saturn Is
IN the constellation Aries, the first in
the circle of the zodiac. You can
recognize this constellation by two stars
few degrees northwest of Saturn, one
OF which has little companion near #.
Inc brightest of these is Arietis, a very
famous star, and exceedingly useful to
sailors. 1t is said that navigator. lost
IN an unknown sea, could at once deter
mine his position and his distance from
any harbor on the earth by measuring
the distance between Arietis aid the
moon. Next east of Aries is Taurus. in
which Jupiter now shines. Taurus ia
known by the cluster of the Pleiades.
and the V-shaped Hyades in which rose.
red Aldebaran shines pre.emlnenE
Further east are the Twins, marked bv
two bright stars of equal maonit1de
castor and Pollnx. Castor is a splen-
did object in the telescope, as it consists
OF two suns, one white and the other
hSht green. These twins, according to
mythology, are the wonderful brothers
who accompanied Jason In his Ar6ns
naudc expedition, and are the tabled
patrons of navigation, You will recog.
me- Mars, shining little below the
WINS, oy his fiery hue. This red color
Oh Mars has led to some of the most in
terestlng speculations in astronomy.
some think it is caused by his havinr
req vegetation instead of green. like thai
OF the earth. To prove that our green
grass and green leaves give the earth,s
comments a corresponding color as seen
rom other worlds, they relate a verv
curious circumstance. Everybody
knows that when the moon is only few
days old the portion that is HnilIlu.
minated by the sun appears shin
ing with q pale, ashy light, which Il
rejected to 1t from the earth. On Feb.
IA, lUl, the French astronomer Lam
bert saw this ashen light changed to an
olive green. Upon investigating the
cause OF the phenomenon he observed
mat the moon, at the time, stood verti-
cally over the Atlantic Ocean, in such a
position that the green light reflected
from the broad, grassy plains and for
eSts OF South America must have fallen
upon its night side and been family re-
Elected back to the earth again.
Southeast OF Taurus is Orion, which
needs no description. The three stars
IN the giants belt, sometimes called
Jacobs staff, point to the splendid
SIRIUS, or the dog star, The Romans
used to sacrifice dog to Sirius every
year. and almost every nation of ancient
times had some superstition about the
power and influence of this star. If Won
possess telescope you can spend many
pleasant evenings among the stars OF
ORION, which, on account of its splendid
appearance and It's richness in telescopic
o6JectS, has been called the California
Of the sky.
Northeast of the Twins Is the Chariot
Ger, constellation which is made con-
'plcuous by the beauty of its principal
5tar, Capella. All eyes were turned to
CapeIla last summer, when it served as
Slgn-post to point out the path of two
comets in succession.
The consultations that circle about
ne North Pole, such as the Great Bear,
Andromeda, Cassiopeia and Perseus,
hardly need description, since they
IRE constantly visible, and their out
ines must be fa an to al who PAY
which are now seen setting soon after
undown-the Scorpion, Bootes, Lyra,
he Eagle, and others-we pointed out
asst summer when they were the reign
NO beauties of the nightly 7. SIN.