Evening star., 1895-08-31
The Position of the Planets.

the center Of which is the ruddy frstmag-
nitude star Antares. 1.-The Scorpions Heart"
Cphiuchus. the Serpent Holder. The lead
of Ophiuchus marked by a star Of the
second magnitude. about three-fifths of
the distance from Antares to Vega, is close
beside that of Hercules, also marked by a
star of the second magnitude, which. how
ever, IS variable in its brlliancy.
Fomalhaut, the principal star in the
Southern Fish, may be seen in the SOUTH
east, little higher than Antares.
In nidheavens in the east is the great
Square Of Pegasus, large quadrangle OF
second-magnitud stars-a figure so strik-
ing that no one can fail to identity IT.
Three of these stars only belong to the old
constellation Pegasus. That of the lower
left-hand corner of the square marks the
in a line of four. of about the same bril-
liancy and at about the same distance
apart, which curves downward toward the
left. The first three In this line belong 10
Andromeda: the fourth. on the extreme left
belongs to Perseus. Above Perseus IS the
W-shaped constellation Cassiopeta, OF the
Chair
The Great Dipper will be found tomor-
row night right side up, between north
and northwest. The region between this
and the star Vega is occupied by the
Dragon. The tip of the Dragon's tail Is
directly above the pointers in the Dip
per. From this point the constellation
curves upward, first to the left, then to
the right, then to the left. like a reversed
letter S. and terminates IN a neaa CON
spicuously marked by trapezium Of stars,
of which two, 1.-The flaming eyes,, are or
the second magnitude.
The Pole Star is found by running
line through the pointers" and continuing
it upward to distance about equal to the
extreme length of the Dipper. 1t Is at
the end of the handle of the Little Dipper
Ursa Minor), the bowl of which Is now
brighter stars in this bowl. corresponding
to the pointers In the Great Dipper. are
known as the Guardians of the Pole For
merly they were nearer to the true pole
of the heavens than now-or, more strictly
speaking, the pole was nearer to them. for
it is the pole. not the stars that has shift
ed-and they seem to have served as
compass for the ancient Greek and Phoe-
nician sailors.
The most striking feature of the heavens
on clear September evening Is the Milky
Way. AT 8 o'clock at the beginning of the
month. it stretches in direction from
southwest to northeast, directly overhead.
Photographs of sections of this region of
the night sky have become so generally
accessible that. the reader may be pre-
sumed to have fairly good idea of its ap
pearance when surveyed with large tele-
scope But though the photograph may
represent correctly the number of its stars
and their various degrees of splendor, no
one can get from any picture or from any
description of the Milky Way the impress
sion forced upon him by a survey of the
object itself. To realize that every one of
the tiny specks shown on the Photographic
plate is a star one must see it twinkle.
And when, peering into this cloud of star
dust, he reflects that even the minutest
of these twinkling points of light may be
and probably is sun, shining so family
as 1t does only because of its unthnk-
able remoteness, then and only then can
he form some faint idea of what Is meant
by countless worlds and the immensity Of
the universe of suns.
The Lunar Eclipse.
On Tuesday there will be total eclipse
of the moon. visible throughout the United
States. Its several phases are timed as
follows eastern standard time:
Moon enters Penumbra. ;. Sd. Oh. 4Sm. pm
Moon enters shadow. .11h. ON. p. m
Total eclipse begins. s...........4d. Oh 6m> am
Total eclipse ends. .1h. AIM. am
Moon leaves shadow. Sam. am.
Moon leaves Penumbra. 6m. am.
The diagram of the eclipse given here