Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-04

e with the heavens, hold il overhead.
! at least the recommendation o. being sonsi-
| Bile. One OF the most strongly marked of
4 the old consultations is the Scorpion. 1t
! requires but slight effort of .he magma
ton to discover the salient points in The
! outlines OF this immense celestial insect.
| To the modern eye, however, this rich Sroup
| than OF animal form, the tail of the Scor-
| p'on forming the kites bob.
| The F!iliS IsipTcr.
/ To the LETT of the Scorpion or the Kite IS
a small group OF eight or ten slars-the
! group which forms the bow and arrow Of
! the Archer, Sasittarius- which, with the
| aid Of httle Imagination, may be shaped
| into the likeness Of a horse with rider on
| his back, and which was, yery likely, the
! germ of the constellation of the Archer
/ Five Of these stars-tne I've near the
! ArCher's right hand-aro arranged in the
/ iolm O. a ldile with & short harnle, in a
| position To scoop up portion OF the MILKY
| way, and this group is now popularity
I known IS the hIik Diyper
| One OF the pTDttiest of the ancient con-
! st-iistiors Is The Dolphin II Is an cspecia =
( y inc object for an opcIC glass. 1t consists
! Of a Grpup Of six or seven bright little stars
a short distance to the left of the I3aGIe
! It's modern ana rather reT uisive. though net
aiLrsetnet uniting, name is JOBS CCiiiu.
tyahuS, The Swan. a good old C0nstClla-
ton in which the aUcicnts were dccrly in
teIesJed, II v may iudse IL III the mass q.
mythology associated with it, is NV better
known rs the Northern Cross. u must he
| adIhittSd that this group Of stars forms :.
| better cross than q bird
The most striking Of the c;rcDmpclar con
stei.ations are the Great Ecar Jgsa Major
and CasS.orsid. Here again The lnuacIn
imagination has seen fit ~ substitute for
these tiru"-hCuOTea designations nlmcs
WHica seem - suit better the condemnation
of the Stars. The fo.nl-r is the Di,osi-c,4-
better O. -
this remarkable group o. seven Stars, a.
though our English cousins have Hkcncd il
t. a TloT-and the latter has become ,he
Lady IN the Chair, or simply the Chair.
II the northeast the constellation PEGASUS
| has Just risen. The modern conetenation-
maker, Caring nothing 70. the my tholoGy of
the winged horse. has formed OF its three
principal staES. Together with one taken
from Andtomooa, the Sreat Seuare of Pc
aSlS-an astcriSm Which for some months
to come VII form one Of the more striking,
ieatu- e. OF the evening Sky.
The Meteor Stream.
The earth Is now passing through the
meteor stream which gives us our August
shooting stars" Metoors belonging IL
this system may be seen between the latter
Fart of July and the 2)th OF August, aud
ere usually particularly numerous on the
nights of the 9.h and 10Th of this month
The nature of these beautiful objects
which were long a puzzle for ASTRONOMERS
il now wen understood. There are circl.ug
around the san, besides the planets and
comets, and forming a part OF the solar sys-
tenn, millions OF minute narticlcs or small
masses OF matter, which probably rarely
exceed tho size Of paving stones, and arc
more often smaller than marbles. ana which
may. therefore, be regarded as "a sort Of
Cosmical dust, too fine to be seen By the
largest telescopes. These minute celestial
bodies are associated in shoals. OF clusters
millions of them circhrg around The sun
be likenei TO the march Of a mighty arm;
4 main body. which may be some millions
of miles in length and some thousands of
miles in breadth, and which is made up
OF individuals that are probably rarely less
than 2Do or 800 miles apart Is followed by
stragsleTs that have. in the course Of time
become separated from the main body and
are scattered in greater or less humber
along the entire line.
Their Orbits.
The orbits of these InetcCrs Ike those O!
comets. with which they are now known
to be intimately related, have no common
plane. but may extend outward from the
sun In any direction. Some Of them cross
the earth's orbit, and il Is to this circum-
stance alone that We know OF the existence
of these minute bodies. When the earth
encounters one OF these meteor streams IT
plunges through it with the reckless speed
OF more than eighteen miles . second and
woe to the meteor that stands i'll it's way
The meteor itself Is in rapid motion and
often when IL is struck by the earth ii il
moving in contrary direction. The col
ision is a frightful one and is fatal to the
meteor. Entering the earth's atmosphere
with speed fifty or hundred times that
of a rife ball, it becomes heated by the
friction of the air to reiness, 10 whteness.
and usually within q second of time it has
been entirely consumed with streak OF
splendor.
Usually the earth IN It's passage through
meteor stream encounters only the strag-
glers. but occasionally the main body OF
the army lies across its path, and then oc-
cur those grand phenomena known Us me
teor showers" when millions upon millions
of these 1uckics5 objects are gathered up
by the earth in the course of few hours
The August meteors move In an orbit so
large that showers occur only at intervals
Of los years, but the number of stragglars
is so great as to afford us annually q fine
display OF this species of celestial fireworks.
Different Systems.
The direction in which meteor Ia seen
to move upon entering the earth's atnos-
phere is different for each system Those
belonging to the same system always move
in the same direction; that is, their paths
are parallel with one another. Yet. from
the law Of perspective. they appear to
radiate from some central point The po-
siticn of this radiant" has been chosen as
a convenient means Of naming the system.
The August metecrs, In whatever part Of
the heavens they may be seen. all seem to
radiate from the constellation Persons.
Hence they are called the Perseiis. The
position OF this radiant IS marked Oil the
planisrbere. 1t can easily be found by not
ing its relation to the stars Cassiopela.
In the Planets.
Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Neptune are
nov morning stars Jupiter rises beteween
/ and = O'Clock, Venus at about 3 o'clock
and Mercury an hour later. All three may
now be seen above the eastern horizon an
hour or before sunrise Mercury Will
reach its greatest western elongation on
the Sth OF the month.
Saturn, Uranus and Mars ere evening
stars and are all above the horizon at 8
pm. in the positions shown on the plants
phere.