Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-07

the Little Dog (Canis Minor; to the right of
Procyon, and at about the same altitude, Is
Sirius, the Dog Star (Canis Major; above
Sirius reclines the constellation Orion, with
it's two brilliant stars, Betelgeuse and Rigel
the former in the right shoulder, the latter
in the let foot; above Orion Is Aldebaran
the Bulls Eye" in the constellation
Taurus: to the left of this star at some
what greater altitude. in the northeast is
CapelIa, in Auriga; below Capella and about
equally distant from this star and Procyon
are the Twins (GeminD of which the upper,
Castor. is of the full second magnitude and
the lower, PolluX, being somewhat brighter,
is usually classed as of the first magnitude,
although it is considerably less brilliant
than any of the other stars just named.
Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Sirius and Rigel
form a large Acknowledgment figure, the
sides OF which are nearly equal, and at the
center of which are the Three Kings" that
form Orion's belt. Procyon, Betelgeuse and
Sirius form a triangle, the sides of which
are of about the same length. A curve run
from Capella through the Two Twins and
Procyon and termina ting at Sirius, is nearly
a half circle, the center of which is near the
head of Orion. Capeila is IN the left Shout
der of Auriga; the right shoulder is marke ed
by a star of the second magnitude, which
may now be seen directly beneath the
brighter star.
Observe that these two shoulder orna-
ments are of the same magnituies, and are
al the same distance apart as the two which
mark the shoulders of Orion, and that these
four stars form a large parallelogram, the
length of which is above five times its
breadth. At the center of this parallel-sided
figure is the star FL Nath, one of the two
third magnitude stars which tip the horns
of Taurus. This star is also in the right
foot of Auriga, to which constella ton it is
considered to belong. 1t is at about equal
distances from Capella; and Aldebaran
forming with them noticeable triangle of
which the base is line joining the two
brighter stars. Aldebarahas, furthermore
marked Enthusiastically byftts position at one
corner of the N-shapedT- cluster of the
Hyades. which form theS Bulls face The
Pleiades, above ii, are in the Bulls Shout
der. -
Yellow Stars.
Observe next the colors of these stars.
Capella, Pollux and Pro5yon are yellow
stars. In the modern classification of the
stars they are of the solar" type. Their
"spectra" resemble that of the sun in being
crossed by dark lines, which are now
known to indicate the presence of the va
pors of various metals IN their atmos-
pheres. Sirius and Rigel are both of a
bluish-white color. They are both "Sirian1
stars and their spec ira Indicate that they
are enVeloped in glowing hydrogen. They
are. doubtless. intensely hot as well as
surprisingly brilliant, and are usually
thought TO represent an earlier stage of
world-life than the solar or yellow stars.
Aldebaran and Betelgeuse are of u de-
cidedly reddish hue. They belong to stirl
another of the five classes into which the
stars now divided. They are either de-
crepit suns, verging upon extinction as lu-
minaries, as is generally held to be the case.
or, possibly, they have not yet reached
their point of highest temperature, and are
nascent suns. At any rate. they are, doubt
less, luminaries of a quite different order
from our own sun.
In the opposite quarter of the heavens
three other stars of the first magnitude
may now be seen at the hour named-Fo-
malhaut, low in the southwest; Vega,
barely above the horizon in the northwest.
and Deneb Cygni, in the head of the North