The Arizona sentinel., 1889-04-20
THE WINKING DEMON.
A Remarks able Variable Story With
q Collision Pending.
Beauties of Winters Night-SOmethIng
About the Great Mysterious Nebula
of OriOn-The Planet Sirius,
The Suns Rival.

1t may probably be considered an un-
fortunate circumstance that the most
interesting consultations and brilliant
stars are to be seen in the winter, and
the amateur astronomer who is unwill-
ing TO brave the cold blasts in order to
study the beauties of the winter sky
must miss great deal.
As the motion of the celestial sphere
is not clearly understood by every one,
a few words of explanation may be ap-
propriate. If we stand in an open
space on a clear night and watch for a
short time, we see stars rising in the
east and setting in the west, and those
in the south moving westward, while
if we turn our eyes to the north we no
Gce that if we take point in the heav-
ems about halfway from the north
point to the point overhead, stars
above this point are moving toward
the left, and stars below toward the
right, while those on the left are NOV
ing downward, and those on the right
upward.
In fact, stars in this region never
set, but describe small circles about
point in the celestial sphere elevated,
in our latitude, about 40 degrees
above the north point. This point is
called the north pole of the celestial
sphere, and is marked by star of the
second magnitude, Polaris, or the Pole
Star. which is known to every body.
This star is only degree and half
from the true pole, so that it describes
a very small circle, and thus appears
stationary.
All the stars revolve in circles
around this pole, but some of them
move in circles so large, on account of
their distance from the pole, that por-
tions of their orbits lie below the hori-
zon. and these stars rise and set. OF
course this motion is all apparent, and
is due to the rotation of the earth,
which is accomplished in % hours, Sc
minutes, 4.09 seconds. Now, since
the suns revolution about the earth
takes "a hours (the time is longer
than the time of the earth's rotation
time on account of the retarding influ-
ence of the earths annual revolution
about the SUM the stars gain on the
sun each revolution by an amount
equal to the difference between "a
hours and % hours, Sc minutes, 409
seconds, or minutes, 559 81 seconds,
so that each evening a given star viii
rise about four minutes earlier than it
did the previous evening. This
amounts to two hours a month, so that
the aspect of the starry vault changes
continually with the season.
1t happens that the portion of the
celestial sphere we see on a winter
evening contains more stars of the
first and second magnitude than any
other portion, and it is due to this that
the winter sky appears more brilliant
than the summer, as well as to the fact
that the atmosphere is probably clearer
on a cold winter night. The Greedy
expedition found that near the North
Pole stars fully one magnitude below
the limit of visibility in our country
could be seen.
If we stand facing the south about
half-past seven in the evening, in the
latter part of February, we see a grand
array of stars. A little to the west of
south, and about half way from the
horizon to the zenith, is seen an oblOng
formed by four conspicuous stars,
about 10 degrees long by 6 degrees
wide. The distance from the horizon
to the zenith is 80 degrees, which will
serve as a standard for comparison.
This oblong marks the constellation
Orion. Orion was a mighty hunter in
the Greek mythology, and when he
died they placed him among the stars.
A row of three stars crossing the CEN
ter of the Oblong diagonally marks the
belt of Orion, and below the central
one of these stars vertical row of
three smaller stars is seen, making his
sword.
If the middle one of these three stars
be examined it will be seen to be sur
rounded by a haze. This is the great
nebula of Orion, one of the most Won
derful objects in the heavens, and
plainly visible to the naked eye on a
clear moonless night. Astronomers
have turned their great telescopes upon
it, in the hope of resolving it into a
mass of stars, but they have been un-
successful, and spectrum analysis now
leads us to believe the great nebula is
a mass of glowing vapor. The sup
porters of the nebular hypothesis
looked to this body as an example of
the way in which a system of worlds
was to be formed out of an immense
mass of fire mist" according to their
theory, but it does not behave just as
the mass of fire mist ought to. Orion
possesses many other objects of inter
est, especially for the telescopist, but
they can not be enumerated here.