Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-06

| reddish star at one corner of the V-shaped
! cluster of the Hyades; below this and
| barely above the horizon is Betelgeuse (pro-
| nounced Bet-el-jeu-ze), in the right
| shoulder of Orion. a star closely resembling
| Aldebaran both in color and magnitude; at
| about the same altitude, between east and
southeast. is Rigel Ree-jeD, in the left
| foot of Orion, a brilliant white or "Sirian''
star; little west of south and at a rather
| low altitude is Fomalhaut, in the Southern
| Fish, conspicuous from its loneliness; at
| about the same altitude in the west is AL
| tair, in the Eagle. and somewhat higher,
| in the northwest. is Vega, Sirian star, the
| rival of Capella in brilliancy.
| The principal consultations now in good
positions for observing are: Cetus, the
! Whale, which occupies the lower half of
| the southeastern quadrant of the heavens
| not particularly striking as constella-
ton, and interesting chiefly for its variable
| star Mira; Pegasus. the Winged Horse,
| marked by the great square, which at .
o'clock has just crossed the meridian and
| is nearly overhead; the Swan tCygnus), or
| Northern Cross, in mid-heavens in the
northwest, easily recognized from the
crosslike arrangement of its five six
brighter stars; Cassiopeia, now seated in
| her most commanding position, directly
above the Pole Star; Perseus, in mid heav-
ems in the northeast, containing two stars
of the second magnitude, one of which Is
the variable star Algol, in the Head of Me-
dusa carried by Perseus in his left hand;
Andromeda, marked by three stars of the
second magnitude, which. together with
| the star in the breast Of Perseus. form the
handle of large dipper-shaped figure, of
which the Square of Pegasus Is the BOWL
| the star in the Maidens Head forming one
corner of the Square; and Aries, Taurus
and Auriga, which together fill a good
portion of the eastern quadrant of the
heavens.
The Lost Plefad.
One of the most interesting of the OBJ
| jects which we have before us as We face
the east is the sparkling little cluster of
| the Pleiades In Grecian fable the Pleiades
| were the daughters of Atlas and the ocean
| nymph, Pleione. whom Jupiter. to rescue
them from Orion. changed into pigeons and
placed among the stars. The conceit of the
| Lost Pleiad"-who, some said, had wasted
away with weeping over the fall of Troy,
or. according to another account, had with
drawn her light from shame at having
| married a mortal--was in explanation of
the fact that only six stars could be
counted in the cluster, while there were
| seven daughters, and the earlier poets and
| astronomers had reckoned seven stars.
What became of the Lost Pleiad is still
an unanswered question. At the present
| time but six stars can be seen in the clus-
ter by eyes of only ordinary keenness. Yet
\ just below the limit of ordinary vision
there are several which have been seen by
pei sons of extraordinary eyesight. Maest-
| lin, the tutor of Kepler, counted fourteen
Pleads, and mapped eleven. before the in
| vention of the telescope. and Miss Airy also
saw fourteen and mapped twelve.
The brightest Pleiad now is Alcyone of
| the third magnitude. But there are rea-
| sons for thinking that this was not the
brightest star in the cluster in the time of
Ptolemy, and 1t Is not improbable that
| others of these stars have changed in bril-
fancy in the course Of time, and that the
loss of the Plead was an actual case of
| diminution in splendor. Prof. E. c. Pick
ering has picked out the star now known
as Pleione-for both Atlas and Pleione have
been placed by astronomers in the cluster
by the side Of their daughters-as very
likely to be the star in question. The star
has a peculiar Spectrum-one which fndi-
Gates that the star Is largely gaseous and
therefore very likely to be subject to varfa-
ton in brightness.
Numerous Cluster.
This h-tle cluster, which so much en-
gagged the attention Of ancient star gazers
has proved to be the object of especial In
teIest for modern astronomers. Photog-
raphy has shown not only that it contains
upward of 5000 stars-some of the latest
photographs are said to show, within linn
Its which are properly to be assigned to
the cluster, over 6.000 stars-but also that
1t Is involved In an extensive nebula which
is especially condensed about the stars
Alcyone. Merope. Electra and Maia, and
FERNS filmy background. somewhat cur
died in appearance, for the whole of that
part of the cluster seen with the naked
eye. Furthermore, Prof. Barnard found
Upon photographing the cluster and its sur
rcundings with portrait lens and with the
long exposure of ten hours, that the entire
surrounding region over space equal fn
area to the bowl of the Great Diprer, Is
hlled with more or less connected patches
OF faint nebulosity. There can be no ques-
ton that the stars here are associated
with this nebulous matter, are actually
imbedded I'm 1t, and that they form true
and not merely an optical cluster. The
Pietades may be regarded. then, as form
ing separate department OF the universe.
SO to speak, and this fact suggests several
be answered Have these stars been form 1
ed by the partial condemnation of this neb-
uious matter? Are they really suns, or are