Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-07-12
me Ivlr cossIrl,ares =,



Many Of the stars yisible tb;. meath -.
most interesting 70 the stodens Of sstru1.
omJ, says vriser IN the ye~ Yok Tr;b.
use Arcsurus may be seen istsIe ,ou.b.
vest Of the zenith. vega little northeast
OF Tie same point Both are spIendn stars.
though they differ In color and belony e,
f-o different classes. Arcsurus, which |,
yellow. 10 solar star; rhx Is to say. i,
y thought TO belong, in point Of time. 20
the Same perisd a. that of our own suu
The hghs OF Vega is blush white, and IL 4,
CHASED with Sirius; stsf is TO say. il i. be-
Ieved TO be sun in the earliest stage of
cosFrie life. Nearly south. about one-sour.h
the distance from the horizon &c the zenith
is red sta, called Antares. Like ether
red stars. Il il 'i.6nzhi to b. decaden, sur
almost burned out. The red color i. prob
ably due 70 great masses Of saaeous vapor.
floating about il. When it bcou,es cool
enoogh these vapors viii be preeip:ta.ed
upon il, and what is aox sun will become
planet In the southwest Is Spica. the
"heas-EsY In the constellation Virgo. In
the east, a little higher up. i. Affair. These
t~o belong 70 the Sirian class Of stars.
little east Of south Is the Scorpion, at the
centre Of which is the star Aniare., slresIy
mentioned, sometimes called the ~Scorp-
ions Heart" The constellation Kite is a
lFtfls "a the tufs IT,
sagittarias, the Archer, is only partly
above the horizon. 1t may be said, by the
way, IN passing, tina, in most cases i, i.
wholly impossible 10 trace the resemblsnees
to scorpions and the ike, which the an
clients thought they saw. The Scorpion
and the Archer contain number of bril-
liant stars, which sre now very noticeable
But only those who use a glass can ses
many Of the stars which are most charae-
teristic Of die heavens at this season
Even a eooi opera-glass will reveal many
noteworthy groups of stars
Almost In the northeast is cygnus, the
Swan. From the Circumstance that some
Of It's brightest stars appear in the form Of
a egoss, il is sometimes called the North
crn Gross" Nobody, OF course, needs TO
he told where the Great Dipper" is and
that its two stars in the bowl opposite the
handle point TO the Polar Star. The Ro-
mans called this constellation the Sep.en-
trioues. sometimes interpreted TO mean the
Seven Plow Oxen. They also called it the
Cart and the Pole The Greeks called it
the Chariot The Gernsans followed this
thought and called IT "Kari's Wagon"
The same idea got over into England where
1t Was called Charles VAIN. though The
popular name in England for the cons,ella-
ton Is the Plo~. The handle of the Dip
per forms the tail of trsa Major, or Great
Bear, only portion of which is now visi-
bic above the horizon. The middle star of
the three is Mizsr. Close to it may be seen
by those with good eyes a star which the
Arabs call Alcor the Tester, because the
ability TO see It was regarded as a test of
good eyesight. Mizar is really a double
star, as may be discovered by viewing it
through telescope of moderate power.
Moreover, Professor Pickering, of the
Harvard Observatory, discovered recently
that there is another star near il, whose
presence can only be revealed by the spec
trum in conjunction Vi it'll photography.