The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-03-29
ALGOL, THE NJ STAR.
PROF. no or PRINCETON TELLS
anon 1T.
The Daily FtSed Stnr In the Heavens whose
size ~ Known to us The strange wsy
In witch Measurement IL Made Possible.

NtEf ~ W ~ w ~ WY
In Which Measurement IL Made Possible.
from The louth'. Companion.
In the days of fable. when the earth was
young. and populUuS with giants. heroes,
nymphs. and monsters, the story goes that on
tho African coast Of the Western Ocean there
lived the three GorVons. the ncrcest Of whom
was Mcdusn. who had writhing serpents for
hair, and n face so terrible that its nero sight
turned the unlucky bcholdcr instantly to stone.
To rid the earth Of this horror, Perseus came
riding from the east on his winged sandals,
wearing the helmet OF Iiadcs. which rendered
him invisible, and equipped with sickle and
mirror. Shrewhly avoiding the fatal sight OF
Medush's face, he slew her and started on hs
return. carrying Ter severed head behind him
on Pegasus. the winged steed, which, wonderful
to tell. had sprung full-fledged from tho blood
moistencd earth.
As Pcrscus scared homcward high above the
earth he looked down and saw, far below him
chained to the rock. the lovely Andromeda,
daughter OF Cepheus. tho Ethiopian King. and
his proud Queen Cassiopeia. Fur no fault OF
her own the poor girl had been exposed as the
sacritlcial prey Of n huge sea monster. which a.
the moment WAS Just emerging from tho waves
to claim his victim. Like the gallant hero that
he was, Perscus flew to the rescue, petrifled the
monster by showing him Medusa's head. and so
delivered the maiden, whom in due time he
married and from these two descended the
founders of the Persian race.
Afterward the gods transferred them to the
heavens, and there they still remain, as any one
may see by looking at n celestial globe: Cepheun
with his queen and the bright Andromeda, the
swift-winged Pegasus, and Cctus. the leviathany
and especially Perseus. still holding fast the
awful head Of the Gorgon, in which CLEANS
Algol, tho demon star" of the Arabs, so called
by them because 1t marks the head OF Al-ghul.
the "ghoul." the grave-robbing iend. Blythe
old astrologrrs Algol was always regarded a.
powerfully =" maletic," or baleful, In It's influences
on human affairs; for all through tho past ages
OF human history the belief In the influence OF
the stars has been as persistent as IL Is absurd.
But while Algol is to be acquitted of all malice
and misunderstanding power. IL is In some re-
spects the most interesting of all the stars.
Ordinarily it shows nothing strange; IL is q pure
white star. just about as bright rs the pole star,
or the three that mark the head and waist and
foot OF AndrOmeda herself. but not quite equal
to Algenib, the principal star OF Perseus. Those
who know the leading consultations c6n easily
identify Algol by the fact that 1t lies nearly
south OF .llgcnib. and makes a right angle with
1t and Gamma Andromede. 1t lies southwest
of the bright star Capella and southeast Of the
well known CassiOpeia Chair.
But Algol is not like other stars; II one watches
II long and carefully he will be surprised some
evening to find that 1t has lost almost three
quarters of its light. Once in about sixty-nins
hours-sixty-eight hours. forty-eight minutes.
and ffty-tive seconds. to be exact-it faints
away and comes to" again, occupying between
nine and ten hours in the whole operation. The
star fades for a little less than five hours, re-
mains unchanged for about twenty minutes. and
then repains its former splendor somewhat
faster than it lost 1t. The phenomenon recurs
with perfect regularity. SO that the "fainting
fits can be predicted almost to the second, and
the following are the t~imes-Eastern standard
of those dissertations which will occur during
the evening hours Of 1906 at times when our
readers can easily observe them, viz: