New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-08-28
THE SKIES IN SEPTEMBER
,urrr CELESTIAL ATTRACTIONS OF THE
MONTH.
-,.o,.s ANrAREs VEGA AND ALTAR THE
BRIGHTEST sTARs-THE MILKY WAY WELL
PLACED FOR sTUDY-THE HAIR
VEST MOON.

VEST MOON.
s.eur who wishes TO study the heavens
Inv "h will find them flooded with moon
ID ''t the first three or four evenings of the
Hs"' hit then. for full fortnight. he will
H'O" glorious" opportunity for his delightful
me- '.,,,,s The moon is full a few hours before
Use Of August, and is new on September
Wv Tho full moon OF September % coming as
!" ca near to the autumnal equinox. Is en-
!" ~. % the designation The Harvest Moon.
.avsrai evenings in succession this lovely
~. rises at about the same hour, and in
".a ~ moving upward almost straight TO the
s. # coasts along the horizon and keeps
well down in the south
c,,ca the brilliant star in Virgo that mas
,rred all summer sets at o'clock or
..r,,er and has become practically Invisible
pu, Arcturus and Antares are still with us. al
,,ourb they disappear. the former In the north
rs, and the latter in the southwest. about 8
o'clock Arcturus. an orange-red star is con-
.,sn,ad the very largest Of all celestial objects
,,at man ever sets eyes upon. Sirius IS brighter,
sr, # is nearer and winter The color of Arc
.,,,s as well as its distance. affects its visib.l-
~ Antares has an even deeper hue. Perhaps
g Is more nearly rose-red than any other star
o,rs size. and this fact lends peculiar interest
a rs tlny companion: for Antares is we'll
Known double The companions hue is emerald,
and though the two are so close that a telescope
I. needed - separate them the spectacle which
they present is not soon forgotten by one who
has once done 50.
Vega also known Alpha Lyrn. now occu-
Mes the most commanding position in the skies.
In our latitude. and a trihe further south, II Is
seen directly overhead about o'clock. BY the
middle Of the month II Will pass the zenith an
hour earlier. Winnecke discovered an exceed
hgly small companion 10 Vega in 1S64, but that
Incident was eClips,d by Barnard's achievement
AZ the Yerkes Observatory last fall. second
companion much smaller than the other. was
found al a distance Of ffty-three seconds shortly
after the great 4O-nch telescope mount
ed The discovery serves to illustrate the won
derful space penetrating power Of that instru-
nlent
ALTAR AND VEGA.
Altar or Alpha AQIile. shares with Vega
pre-emlnence in the heavens during September
II shines with a scarcely less intense brightness
and is perhaps more conveniently placed for oh
servation. It lies about thirty degrees to the
south Of Vega and of further TO the east. 1t
does not reach the meridian until an hour and
quarter after Vega.
Between Vega and Arcturus one may easily
..ck out the elliptical series ~ stars called the
Northern Crown. II lies rather nearer TO Arc
turus than to Vega. Between the Northern
Crown and Vega is a portion Of the constellation
Of Hercules none OF whose stars are above the
third magnitude but which includes the most
famous cluster OF stars in the northern heavens.
This globular clump. lying between the stars
Eta and Zeta Of the constellation. contains no
less than five thousand suns. each large as
our own and possibly largeri The bunch can
be family perceived with strong opera glass.
Out in the country. where one can get away
from the binding effect Of the electric lights. 1t
IS possible to just now. on clear and moonless
nights the Milky Way. stretching from north
east 10 southwest. Beginning UP in Perseus
narrow belt OF gauzy luminosity 1; slowly broad
ems as IT extends through Cassiopela. Lacerta.
Cygnus. Vupe cula. Aquila, the Shield q So
b!eski and Saglttarius. TO Scorpo, Of which An
tares IS the bright particular star. 1t Is In
sag,ttarius that those huge. dark holes the
Coal Sacks. fathor1less abysses in space have
yawned for ages. and continue TO mystify all
observers
PHOTOGRAPHING THE MILKY WAY.
The Milky Way has received a good deal of
attention from astronomers OF late The eab-
crate drawings which Heis and Bocddickor made
Of It's patches Of luminosity differ in detail con-
siderably. and thus has arisen the question
whether the nebulous baldric has itself under
gone 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
dafed the camera. owing to a phenomenon
which the scientists call "irradiaton" the
swarms o.: small stars that constitute the Milky
Way would either merge with one another or be
~ 1aT nv he ,xfr q
ural 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. It Is possible to get accurate data 10
work with and 70 study the structure Of the
Milky Way with some hope Of understanding 1t.
all Of the region now visible has been photo
Csphed carefully by Barnard Wolf and others
Capella which e really a winter star, appears
above the horizon. a little east Of due north.
about 8 o'clock, bur even al 10 o'clock II Is
hardly In an eligible place for observation. AL
CO., the Demon Star Of the ancents. the most
snspicuous short-perod variable star OF the
NThern heavens. is also visible 10" down In
he northeast at 9 or 10 O'Clock By the middle
u the month T. may well be left until October.
'aoush for study Mira, in some respects a
more wonderful variable. comes up In the south
east about y O'Clock and is we'll worth sitting
0p Tor this month. During six or seven months
W lis period 800 days It remains Invisible to
Inc naked eye. and stays down at or near the
hhth magnitude It then begins to gain in
pr'!hancy comes up 10 point where 1t can be
ue'ec'ed without instrumental aid Cat the fifth
"sxth magnitude, according to ones eyesghO,
eno Continues TO increase In brightness I'LL 1t
~" 70 about the third magnitude There have
IVA some curious irregularities In the time OF
vac maximum stage. the brightness Of TIE star
- 'hs time and other features Of Miras be
"a'iof. The last maximum occurred at the END
~ november. 1897. and the next one Is due,
'as'e'ore. al the end Of October. 1898 The star
euOuld linht ,rh