Evening star., 1896-02-29


tions. In the east. midway between the hori-
| zon and the zenith, is Leo, the Lion, easy to
locate by means of the Sickle" which
terms his bushy head and shoulders and in
TIE handle Of which is the bright star Reg
| ulus' known also as Cor Lecnis, the Lions
| Heart AT about the same altitude in the
northeast is the Great Dipper, or the Plow
| as our English cousins prefer to call this
s'rlklng group OF seven stars-the Septem-
| trlones OF the ancient Romans-which forms
| fhe tail and the hind quarters of the mys-
| ferrous Great Bear-the Ursa Major. Below
ard to the left of the Dipper may be traced
the tortuous body of the Dragon-Draco-
the head of which is now at the hour
| named, on the horizon, it's two flaming
Eyes just peering above it, but too low to
| De visible. In the northwest. at about half
| the altitude Of the Dipper, is the W-shaped
| nsure or CaSSiopeia, the Lady in her Chair
| now hanging head downward, a position
| Wnlcn, according to the ancient poets she
Is compelled sometimes to assume as a pun
| ismiheht 1or her impious vanity.
Inc region between Cassiopeia and Orion
Is occupied by number of very interesting
ccnsteilatlons, though Zone of them is mark
eu ny any very striking arrangement of it's
stars. F,rst comes Perseus, at about the
same altitude as Cassiopea swinging in his
r;sht hand, as he is depicted on the chart
me sword Gnvisible) with which he severed
NSA
| Eard this fearful, snaky y-locked head. in the
| 1orehead OF which stands the variable star
Algol the blinking Demon of the Arabs.
beneath Perseus and partly below the
horizon Is Andromeda, the daughter of Cas-
siopeia, whom Perseus rescued from the
feroctous Sea Monster. To the left of An
| dromeda and near the horizon, a little north
OF west, is Aries, the Ram, a constellation
1nconspfcuous except for the pair of third
magnitude stars in the head and interesting
| chiefly as the leader of the twelve constei.
1ations of the zodiac. Between Aries and
orion comes Taurus, the Bull, the second of
The zodiacal consultations.
Guide to the Farmer.
Taurus contains one star of the first mag
nitude, Aldebaran, sometimes called the
"Bulls-eye," and the finest two naked-eye
star clusters, the Hyades and Pleiades, As
constellation. 1T is not particularly strik-
ing figure; yet ancientiy it was one of the
most useful Of them all. Two thousand
years ago It rose-that is to say, it made its
first appearance above the horizon at day.
break. about the 1st of April. 1t therefore
served the husbandman as an excellent
guide in laying out his springs work For
this reason Taurus was said by Virgil to
open the year with his golden horns" The
tips of these horns-and very long horns
they are-are marked by two stars, one of
the second and one Of the third magnitude.
eeuse, in the right shoulder of Orion The
Bull c0sists, in fact, mainly of horns and
face, the latter being formed by the V
shaped cluster-the Hyades-beside the star
er suggestive object, is all there was orig
inally of the Bull. At any rate, although
the chartmakers have depicted also shoul-
ders and forelegs, no trace of these can be
found in the actual skies. The Pleiades are
in the Bulls shoulder.
Midway between Orion and Cassiopeia
and situated now above Taurus and Per-
seus is Auriga, the Wagner. This constel-
lation is we'll provided with stars, contain
ing one of the first magnitude, Capella, the
Goat, two Of the second and quite a number
of the third and fourth. Properly looked at,
it is the most sensible of the consultations
within the region above indicated; but it
may be a question whether the chart maxi
ers have looked at it properly" AS repre-
sented on the chart, the Wagner is seated
and holds in his hands the reins with
which he guides invisible horses. In his lap
he carries three kids, while the mother
goat, represented by the star Capella, clam
bers upon his left shoulder. Capella marks
this shoulder, and the star Beta, Of the FEC
ond magnitude, marks the right. His right
foot rests on the tip Of one Of the Bulls
horns. star of the third magnitude, eight
or ten degrees northeast of Capella, marks
his head, giving him an extraordinarily
long neck. This is the charts way of deal
ing with the Wagner. But since nobody
| now knows exactly how the stars Of the
| SeteIdI COISlelldliOuS were grouped OFlSin-
ally, it is not heinous offense to attempt
an improvement on the chart.
Interesting Constellatfons.
We have ventured to group the stars Of
! the Wagner differently on the planisphere
given herewith. We have turned his light
shoulder into head, and We submit to the
reader whether We have not made better
| man Of him. Near Capella may be seen a
| very pretty little triangle Of fourth magni-
| tude stars, which is, very likely, the orig
| inal of the three Kids.
| About midway between Aldebaran and
the sickle and now very nearly overhead
| are the Twins GeminD, Castor and Pollux.
| This constellation is amply supplied with
stars, but no imagination can see among
| them the two youths found on the chart.
We may be fairly certain that the original
Twins were the twin stars and nothing else.
The constellation Gemini is the third Of
the zodiacal consultations. Leo, already
| pointed out, is the fifth. Between these two
| is Cancer, the Crab. It hardly iced be