Evening journal., 1896-12-01

ered planet since, however no such /
planet has ever been visible as a spot |
on the suns disk, though the most |
careful observations were made by |
men of great ability with the most |
powerful instruments, the discovery OF |
Vulcan proved apocryphal and the /
existence of such a planet an illusion. |
Still, II is not alone possible, but even |
highly probable, that a number Of di- !
minutive planetary bodies exist be- !
tween Mercury and the sun, and il can
hardly admit of doubt that in course
Of time, and with the aid Of the ever
improving magnifying power of tele-
scopes, such bodies win yet be discov-
cred, though they must needs be OF
very small dimensions. Marvellous as
are the scientific discoveries Of the
fast-waning century the end of the
new and perhaps more wonderful ones
has not yet come, and as long as there
ensues no retrograde movement in the
intellectual developments of man, the
end will never come until the earth
ceases to be an inhabitable body for
Intelligent beings.
THE CONSULTATIONS.
In the earlier hours Of the December
evenings we see the constellation Aries.
Perseus and Cetus I'm the meridian. The
zodiacal constellation Aries. or the
Ram, is below Andromeda and distin-
guished by two bright second-magni-
tude stars, Alpha and Beta Aritis.
North of It and at a small distance
three stars of the third and fourth
magnitude form the small constella-
ton Triangulum, of Deltoton. or by its
English name the Triangle II is
really quite Insignificant, but as it be-
longs to Ptolemy's famous forty-eight
ancient consultations it is still con-
| sidered worthy of mention. The space
between Taurus and the Southern Fish
Is filled up by the rather extensive
constellation Cetus, or the Whale. The
| head of the monster is right below
Aries and marked by quite conspicu-
Gus triangle, while the body may be
easily distinguished by five stars con-
stituting a figure not unlike a sickle.
The star at the vertex OF the obtuse
angle of the triangle in the head is
called Alpha Ceti or Menkar while
Beta, or Deneb Ceti occupies an iso-
lated position in the tail. Between the
head and the sickle in this constella-
! ton is the star Omicron Ceti, also
called Mira, or the Wonderful Star Il
| is the first of the periodically variable
stars ever known. In brightness IL
ranges from the ninth to the fourth
magnitude, and even sometimes the
second, all these changes taking place
within about one hundred days. II
was the first noticed i'm 1896 as a vari-
able star and its singlar and rapid
changes have more or less puzzled the
astronomers. Looking overhead to-
ward the northeast we see the fine
constellation Perseus, being in a GER
tain manner connected with Andro-
media, the square and constellation of
| Pegasus. both of which are bending
toward the southwest High up, though
not yet in the meridian, is the large
and beautiful constellation Taurus,
with the Hyades and Pleiades. in the
former of which shines Aldebaran, the
Bulls Eye, with the brilliancy Of a
first magnitude star. Aldebaran per-
tains to a certain class of stars which
are called nautical stars, of which we
shall speak in some future article.
Like most of the stars that bear a
| proper name, the word Aldebaran is
of Arabic origin and means Led the
way" an allusion to a certain period
in the history of astronomy when Al
| debaran led the stars from the vernal
equinox. To the north of it Auriga,
the Charioteer, with Capella, forms a
worthy neighbor of Taurus, and east
of these two the most magnificent con-
stellation in the whole heavens, Or
ion. is rising higher and higher Also,
| Gemini, or the Twins, is plainly visi-
BILE, and all of these form a star pic
ture of indescribable and inspiring
beauty, though in their ensemble seen
at greater advantage in the coming
months. Lyra. with Vega and Cygnus
are setting, while Aquila, Capricornus
and Hercules have set, reminding us
that the season of Winter has arrived