Evening star., 1897-04-03
THE SKIES IN APRIL
Many Timely Hints for Amateur
Astronomers.
A REVIEW OF THE CONSULTATIONS
lnconceivabIe Distance Of Arcturus
From the Earth.
MERCURY AS EVENING STAR
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
At 8 o'clock tonight, Leo. the Lion, will
be crossing the meridian. or, in other
words, will be exactly south, at about
three-fourths of the distance from the
horizon to the zenith. Leo is the fifth of
the zodiacal consultations, lying between
Cancer on the west and Virgo on the east,
and is the most striking figure among them.
with the exception, perhaps of the Scor-
pion The head and shoulders of the Lion
are formed by the well-known Sickle in the
handle of which is the bright star Regulus,
sometimes called Cor Leonis, the Lion $
Heart. His hind quarters-toward the east
are marked by a rectangular figure OF
about the size of the bowl of the Great
Dipper, formed by four stars, of which
cne is of the second, one of the third and
two of the fourth magnitude. The bright
est of the four-that at the lower left-hand
corner of the rectangle-is Denebola. an
Arabic name contracted from Deneb al
Asad. the Tail of the Lion. The hind legs
are supposed to extend downward and rear
ward, while the fore paws extend forward.
With the help of lively imagination one
can see here the figure of this king of
beasts in the act of springing on his prey,
and we may. therefore, set Leo down as
have some resemblance to the objects Tor
which they were named
Below Leo is the Hydra or Water Snake
remarkable chiefly for its enormous length
of over 100 degrees. If hung perpendicu-
| larly in the heavens it would stretch from
the horizon more than 10 degrees beyond
| the zenith. 1t Is, however. so poorly marx
ed with stars that with all Its length 1t Is
| a rather inconspicuous constellation. It's
most noticeable part is its head, formed
by a very pretty little group of four stars
| the brightest OF which. OF the thirG mag,
nitude makes an excellent eye. To find
| this head run line from Denebola to
Regulus and continue 1t to a distance about
equal to the distance CT these two stars
apart. 1t will be found to be a very pretty
object for the opera glass. which reveals
here quite a nest of small stars. The sinu-
Gus course of the Hydra's body is indicated
| on the planisphere and with this aid the
constellation may be located, even if it
cannot be seen very distinctly in the actual
heavens.
! The Crater. or Cup and the Crow. which
stand upon the Hydras back, Will be found
| easily, though neither contains any star
above the third magnitude. Both are very
| pretty little consultations, particularly II
| examined with opera glass. or the two
| the Cup is the most like 1t IS, IN fact.
| very passable celestial goblet. though a
| little lop-sided. Cor Hydra. the Hydra $
| Heart, will also be found easily, though OF
only the second magnitude. being quite
| conspicuous from its loneliness. 1t forms
| with Regulus and the Hydra's head tri-
| angle, of which the sides are all nearly
| equal in length.
Celestial Landmark.
| Turning now toward the east. we shall
| have before US the great Diamond of Virgo.
| Although this is not one OF the old constel-
| lations it is q celestial landmark which the
| beginner in star r-gazing should note par
| ticularly 1t is formed by the four stars
| Arcturus Spica, Denebola and Cor Carroll.
l o1r lxy hna Y.ninf al
Arcturus is the brilliant orange-yelow
| star, now seen almost exactly in the east
| at one-third of the distance from the hori-
zon to the zenith. Observe that 1t lies on
| q continuation of the curve OF the Dip
| pers handle. Continuing this curve to the
right, we strike Spica, at little lower alti-
| tude than ArcturuS, in the southeast. Splca
! is the principal star in Virgo. marking the
| wheat-ear which the maiden, a harvest
| cleaner apparently carries in her left
| hand Virgo. by the way. now stands erect
| above the southeastern horizon. her head
| we'll I'D toward Derebola. though the con-
| stellation is SO shadowy that time Is wasted
| in searching for its outlines. The three
! stars-Arcturus. Spica and Denebola-are
| at very nearly the same distance apart,
| thus forming a large equiateral triangle.
| Cor Carroll, Charles Heart. so named in
honor of England's ill-fated king, will now
| easily be found, though of only the third
magnitude. 1t lies between Arcturus and
| in the Hunting Dogs. 1t is double star.
| sufficiently wide to be separated with a
| small telescopes. and is a very pretty object
| for such an instrument. The principal star
! is white and the companion. somewhat
| smaller. has HtHlet tlnge.
| About midway between Cor Carroll and
| Denebola lies beautiful though rather
| diffuse sprinkting Of small stars, known
| as Coma Berenices. Berenice's Hair. The
| brightest starssin this cluster are below the
| fourth magnitude. There are said to be
forty-three visible 40 the naked eye. An
| opera glass will treble or Quadruple this
| number This ,NttleI section of the heavens
| Is particularly interesting astronomically
| from it's richness in nebulae as well as
| stars.
To the left ofsArcturus and at a lower al
| titude lies the Northern Crown, one of the
prettiest Of the, small consultations, formed
| by nearly, closed oval of six or more
stars, Of which the brightest, Alpheta,
| sometimes called the Pearl Of the Crown Is
| Of the.second magnitude.
OF the stars which we just passed In re-
| view, by far the most interesting is Arc
turus, not merely because of Its superior
| is, perhaps to use the words of Miss Agnes
Clerke, "the most stupendous s.ln within
our imperfect cognizance." DR.. Elkin In
1888 using the fine heliometer Of the Yale
| College observatory, was unable to detect
in this brilliant star any ''parallax" Of an
amount sufficiently great to be disentangied
from probable errors OF observation" or
In plain English. he was unable to obtain
any trustworthy indication Of It's distance
| from US. Arcturus L. apparently, 30 pro-
fountily buried In the depths Of space that.
while Sirius and other brilliant stars shift
their positions slightiy rs We swing with
the Earth round the sun and change the
l vn1Ifnf oPx x4Awr fre,u9 which <H,e,,, <Ne