Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-30

suns of the size and brilliancy Of ours
nodded into one would. at the distance
of Sirius, transmit to us about the same
amount Of light. Shining singly, our glori-
Gus luminary would at that distance ap-
pear to us a star Of the fourth or fifth
magnitude.
To the Right md Left of Orion.
Above and little to the right Of Orion
may be seen bright orange-yellow star.
This Is Aldebaran, sometimes called the
Bulls Eye. 1t is the principal star in the
constellation Taurus. 1t can always be
found. when above the horizon, if one will
remember that it is on the side of Orion
opposite Sirius, and at about the same dis
lance as that star from the Thee Kings.
To the left of Orion and at about the
same distance from Betelgeuse as Sirius, Is
Procyon, the Little Dog (Canis Minor. 1t
forms with Betelgeuse and Sirius a nearly
equal-side triangle, which renders 1t easy
to recognize.
The Pleiades.
A short distance to the right Of Aldebaran
is the beautiful little cluster of the Pleiades.
consisting, for eyes of only ordinary keen
ness. of six tiny but very sparkling stars.
This Is an excellent object for an opera
glass. which will bring into view, not only
the Lost Pleiad." but dozens of other
Pleads, which, IL they have not come into
being. have at any rate come into visibility
since the fall of Troy. An opera glass
goes, however. but a short way toward
bringing out the beauties of this rich clus-
ter as 1t Is seen through large telescope
or as 1t is depicted by photography. A
photograph of this region shows within an
area OF about the size of six full moons
over 1000 stars. of which fully 100 lie within
the limits of the six stars visible to the
naked eye.
The Sow and Pigs.
Close beside Aldebaran is another cluster,
having the form of the letter V, which,
though more diffuse than the Pleiades and
less striking to the naked eye Is really
much finer object for an opera glass The
ancient Greek name of this cluster was
Hyades. name which has usually been
Interpreted as if derived from a Greek word
which means Ito rain" The Romans called
these stars Pluviae which may be inter-
preted the "Rainers," and the explanation
given Is that when these stars rose with
the sun rainy weather might be expected.
The Romans also called them Suculae, the
Pigs because" says German annotator
upon Virgil. by a strange mistake they
derived the word Hyades from hys. a
swine"
But when we consider that these ancient
consultations were probably formed and
named by husbandmen and not by poets,
1t seems not unlikely that the Roman peas
ant was instinctively right and the learned
German wrong. The Sow and Pigs" as a
name for Aldebaran and the group of lesser
take with rustics. whatever poets might
think Of 1t.
Names Of Popular Origin.
Homely and pointed names for these star
groups are just the sort that we should look
for. when we consider their popular origin,
as. in fact,we find to be the case with many
of the modern names which have supplanted
the old. Thus, the Sickle is a popular
name for a portion of the old constellation
Leo now Just above the eastern horizon.
and we have met with persons who ignore
the classical and poetic name "Pleiades."
and persist in calling this pretty little clus-
ter the Cleaver. just because it looks like a
cleaver
The constellation Orion Is famous astro-
nomcally for it's great nebula. Seen through
a large telescope this mysterious object, the
largest of it's class, has the appearance of q
vast. shapeless and family luminous cloud
as the name nebula implies 1t Is situated
in the sword at a distance from the lower
most star of the belt about equal the length
of the belt itself Although 1t is said to be
visible to the naked eye, probably very few
eyes can detect any unusual appearance
here and, indeed, even an opera glass will
hardly reveal the nebula with certainty.
Mass of Iucandescent Gases.
The spectroscope has shown that this
mist-like object, which was formerly
thought by many astronomers to consist Of
an infinitude of stars too small or too dis
tant to be seen separately, is really a mass
of incandescent gases. among which hydro
gen and nitrogen seem to be the most
abundant. IN recent years this grand nebu-
la has been many times photographed, first
by the late Prof Henry Draper and later
by Mr.. Common, Mr.. Roberts and others.
Photography has, indeed. done for this re-
gion more than to secure and fix the ap-
pearance OF this unknown nebula; it has
revealed other nebulae here which had es-
capped detection. In fact, this whole con-
stellation has been found to be so rich in
matter of this description that it has been
very aptly characterized as "a vast nebular
vortex.
The Planets.
The reignIng planets now are Venus and
Jupiter, both now being magnificent even
ing stars.
Venus is about three hours east of the
sum- and auorns the western evening sky
with her Incompatible spendor until near
ly O'Clock. She attains her greatest bril-
liancy on the 10th of next month.
Jupiter was in opposition to the sun, and
therefore shone with his greatest brilliancy
for this year on the 18th of November Yet
he is still no mean rival Of Venus. His dis
lance from us now Is about 375,OOO,OO0
miles.
Since the Goth of September this planet
has been acknowledgement westward.
On the 18th of next month 1t will be station
airy. After that date it will move in an
easterly direction. Its movement can be
observed very readily by noting its change
Of position with reference to the Pleiades
and the star Aldebaran.
Saturn is now morning star, rising at
about l am. 1t is therefore coming in to
good position to be observed with a tele-
scope. On the 14th it will be in quadrature
with the sun.
Mars also is a morning star rising at
about am. None of the other planets is
now in position to render it of interest to
observers with the unaided eye.
How He Saved Her.
From the Detroit Free Press.
The man adored her and he was roman
tic.
He must have been. for he could not have
adored her. seeing she was thirty-hve and
passe to match.
She had money, though, and that might
n 70 oh lat