Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-09-05
IHE SKIES Y, N sEeIEmssR. ]! !! J! I! !,
cA,sl Os,ssslsl Attractions Al. IA Month.

~
The amateur who wishes to study
the heavens in September will hnd
them flooded with moonlight for the
flrst three or four evenings Of the
month; but then, for full fortnight,
he will have glorious opportunity Tor
his delightful pursuits. The moon is
full a few hours before the close of
August, and is new on September 10.
The full moon Of September %. coming
AZ Il does so near 70 the antumnal
equinox. 10 entitled to the designation
..The Harvest Moon" For several eve
nines in succession this lovely object
rises at about the same hour and in
stead OF moving upward almost
straight to the zenith 1t coasts along
the horizon and keeps well down IN the
south.
Spica, the brilliant star in Virgo that
has reigned all summer, now sets al
o'clock or earlier. and has become
practically invisible. But Arcturus
and Antares are still with us. although
they disappear, the former in the
northwest and the latter in the SOUTH
west. about 9 o'clock. Arcturus, an
orange red star, is considered the very
largest OF all celestial objects that man
ever sets eyes upon. Sirius is brighter,
but 1t is nearer and winter. The color
OF Arcturus, as well as its distance,
affects it's visibility. Antares mas an
even deeper hue. Perhaps it Is more
nearly rose-red than any other star
OF its size. and this fact lends peculiar
interest to its tiny companion; Tor
Antares Is a well-knOwn double. The
companion's hue is emerald, and
though the two are so close that
a telescope is needed to separate them,
the spectacle which they present is not
soon forgotten by one who has once
done so
Vega. also known as Alpha Lyrae.
now occupies the most commanding
position in the skies. In our latitude,
and a trifle further south, it is seen di-
rectly overhead about 8 o'clock. BY
the middle Of the month it will pass
the zenith an hour earlier. Winnecke
discovered an exceedingly small com
panion to Vega in 1864. but that Incl
dent was eclipsed by Barnards
achievement at the Yerkes Observa-
tory last fail A second companion,
much smaller than the other, was
found at a distance of fifty-three sec
onds shortly after the great 4O-inch
telescope was mounted. The discovery
serves to illustrate the wonderful
space e-penetrating power of that in
strument.
Affair. or Alpha Aquilae shares with
Vega e-eminencei in the heavens dur
ing September. 1t shines with
scarcely less intense brightness and is
perhaps more conveniently placed for
observation 1t LES abou. thirty de-
grees to the south of Vega, and off
further to the east. 1t does not reach
the meridian until an hour and quar-
ter after Vega.
between Vega and Arcturus one
may easily pick out the elliptical series
of stars called the Northern Grown. 1t
lies rather nearer to Arcturus than to
Vega. Between the Northern Crown
and Vega is a portion Of the constella-
ton Of Hercules. none of whose stars
are above the third magnitude, but
which includes the most famous clus-
ter of stars in the northern heavens.
This glObular clump. lying between the
stars Eta and Zeta of the constella-
tion, contains no less than five thou
sand suns, each as large as our own
be family perceived with a strong
opera glass.
Out in the country. where one can
get away from the binding effect of
the electric lights. 1t is possible to see
just now.o clear and moonless nights,
the Milky Way, stretching from north
east to southwest. Beginning up in
Perseus. a narrow belt of gauzy lumin-
oslty, It slowly broadens as it extends
through Cassiopeia, Lacerta. Cygnus,
Vulpecula. Aqula, the Shield of So
bieski and Sagittarius, to Scorpio. Of
which Antares is the bright particular
star. 1t is in Sagittarius that those
huge, dark holes, the Coal Sacks. faith
omless abysses in space. have yawned
for ages. and continue to mystify all
observers.
The Milky Way has received a good
deal of attention from astronomers Of
late. The elaborate drawings which
Heis and Boeddicker made of it's
patches of luminosity differ in detail
considerably, and thus has arisen the
question whether the nebulOus baldric
has itself undergone changes or
whether the astronomers have failed
to portray the galaxy with accuracy.
Long after photography had been tried
with success on other celestial objects
the Milky Way defied the camera.
Owing to a phenomenon which the
scientists call 'irradiation" the swarms
OF small stars that constitute the Milky
Way would either merge with one an
other or be overwhelmed by the ex-
traordinary and. unnatural spreading
OF the larger stars which got on the
plate. Now that the trick of taking
clear pictures Of this part of the skies
has been learned, 1t is possible to get
accurate data to work with, and to
study the structure of the Milky Way
with some hope of understanding it.
All Of the region now visible has been
photographed carefully by Barnard,
Wolf and others
Capella, which is really a winter
star. appears above the horizon, little
east Of due north, about 9 o'clock, but
even at 10 O'Clock it is hardly in an
eligible place for observation. Algoi.
the Demon Star of the ancients. the
most conspicuous short-period variable
or rxS ba ;c -.