Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-10-01

| line drawn from Aldebaran through Men
kar and Deneb Kaitos to Fomalhaut. Men
| kar. the Shout of Cetus. is of the second
| magnitude. 1t forms. with the pair of
| stars in the head of Aries and the PleiadeS,
| a large equal-sded triangle. Mira is at
! the right of this star, at about one-third of
| the distance to Deneb kaitos. in the tail Of
! Cetus. 1t is now visible reddish star
nearly, If not quite. as bright as Menkar.
The stars popularity is this: When at
! its faintest 1t is away below the limit of
| the naked eye, and even of a field glass
| being then of between the ninth and tenth
masnitudes. 1t is then cherry-red, con-
trasting strikingiy with white compan-
| ion, of about the same magnitude which
constitutes double star. Having remain
/ ed thus for somo weeks. it begins slowly
TO brighten, and In the course of two or
three months it becomes visible to the
naked eye. Continuing to brighten in a
month or six weeks after it becomes, Wis.,
ible 1t reaches its ma Ximum of brilIiancy
which Is usually that of a star of the third
magnitude. though it sometimes SURPRISES
this brilliancy. and occasionally it stops
snort OF 1t, for irregularity in this resnect
| Is one OF its eccentrcfties. Then having
ilictuated awhile about this point of max
lmum brilliancy-sometimes Daling n little
ana then fashing up again-it begins stead
lily to decline in brightness and in two ar
three months 1t Is again beyond the reach
of the naked eye.
An Unreliable Star.
Mira runs the gamut of its changes in an
average period Of 81 days. during less than
ohe-haH OF which time it is visible to the
naked eye Its last maximum occurred
abcut December of last year, so that, ac-
| coroins to program. 1t should be at its
| brightest this year about November / But
| departure from its program is another of
| It's eccentricities. 1t has the look now Sep
tcmber I'D CT being near its maximum and
| II TINS is the case, it is a full month ahead
| OF time By all means find this interesting
star, and keep an eye upon il.
The cause of the singular department of
| this and similar variable stars is one of
the celestial enigmas which science is still
| attempting to unriddle. The spectroscoDe
| mas, OF course, been appealed to- and with
OUT clearing up the mystery entirely IL has
| disclosed the very interesting fact that the
| stars Increase in splendor is due In a great
| measure to an outbreak of glowing gases.
| whatever may be the cause. AS the star
| brightens, bright lines appear in its spec
| trum-hterOglyphs in which the astronomer
| sees evidence of radiation from incandes-
| cent gases, of which the principal is the
| everywhere present hydrogen.
The Orionids.
The 18th of this month is the date for the
| appearance of the meteors known as
| Orionds, from the circumstance that the
point in the heavens from the direction of
| which they appear to shoot is in the con-
4
| then rise al about 10 pm exactly in the
| east. The tracks of meteors seen before
| that hour Will all diverge from point be-
| low the eastern horizon. This meteor
| swarm is a quite prolific one, and it will
| De wei OF bear the date in mind.
The Planets.
Mercury will be a morning star until
| the 10Th. and after that date an evening
star; but it will not be visible during the
| month.
| Venus is still an evening star, and is a
| splendid object in the southwest until near
| ly o'clock. She will he at her greatest
| briliiancy on the 9th. Only one-fourth of
| her disk will then be Illuminated for us,
| however, or, in other words she will then
| present the phase of the moon about four
| days after the new"
1t is ! little curious, at first thought, that
| Wien this planet shines the most brightly
| 1t Is not full" as is the case with the
| moon, but is in a crescent phase. The rea-
| son is that when Venus shows full round
| disk she is beyond tho sun, her distance
| from us Is at its greatest. and her apparent
| size Is at its least. AS she swings around
| IN her orbit her distance diminisheS and
her disk appears larger. and, though we now
| see only a portion Of it. we really get more
| light fro m what we do see than at first
| from the whole disk.
W hen Venus is at her brightest her light,
| according to an estimate by Lockyer, Is
| equal TO that of $50 average stars of the
| first magnitude. She is then about seventy
| times az bright Sirius and 300 times as
| bright as Arcturus
| Mars has now become an evening star,
in Gemini. rising shortly before midnight.
Jupiter is still an evening star but is too
| near the sun TO be observable. He will be
| in conjunction with the sun on the 18th,
| and after that date a morning star.
Saturn and Uranus, both evening stars,
| set before o'clock. Neptune, to complete
| the list, is an evening star in the southwest
corner of Taurus, rising at about 10 pm.