The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-02
THE SKY'S SIGNALS OF WINTER

The stars creeping up the eastern horizon
presage the approach Of winter. The
Pleiades rise at s o'clock the Hyades at 9.
and great Orion himself appears at H. The
constellation of the Swan is in the zenith
at o'clock 1t is one OF the twenty an
cient northern consultations described by
Ptolemy in the "Almgest," which for four
teen centuries was the astronomical bible
Of the world. The principal bright stars of
this remarkable constellation form great
cross, the longer member lying along the
Milky Way, from northeast to southwest,
and with its crosspiece marking the wings,
body and neck of the Swan, which is rep
resented on outspread wings flying down
the lucid stream of the fair galaxy
The Swan is due east of Lyra. Mytholo-
gists supposed it to represent Orpheus,
who, on being murdered by the cruel priest
ess of Bacchus, was changed into a swan
and placed near his Tyre in the heavens.
South of the Swan the asterisms of the
Dolphin and the Eagle. The former is often
called Jobs Coffin. and the latter holds the
first magnitude star Affair
Directly east of Jobs Coffin is the con-
stellation of Pegasus, which contains a rec
tangular figure called the Great Square of
Pegasus, marked at its corners by four
stars, all of the second magnitude and sit
uated about fifteen degrees apart. If we
draw straight line from the North Star
through the two eastern stars of this square
and continue the line fifteen degrees to the
south Cor distance equal to the width of
the square,, 1t will terminate at the most
important point in the whole heavens,
called the first point of Aries. Three great
circles of the heavens cross at this point,
viz, the equator, running east and west;
fha n<N1rir1n fn1
equinox, running north and south, and the
elliptic. or SUMS path, crossing a little
obliquely The longitude of all the stars is
reckoned from the vernal equinox Astro-
nomically speaking, it is noon at any place
when the vernal equinox crosses the me-
ridian. 1t now crosses at about half past
IL p m. At the birth of astronomy the
signs Of the zodiac and the zodiacal con-
stellations were oincident, but owing to a
gradual shifting of the equnoctial points
toward the west the first point of Aries is
now IN the constellation of Pisces The
procession OF the equinoxes is due to a
Wabollng motion of the earth called nuta-
tlon 1t required period of 25, 700 years
Tor a complete mutation. This motion of
the earth, combined with a gradual increase
IN the eccentricity of the ecliptic, produces
an epoch of tremendous import.
II we could examine the rocks beneath
the city of Indianapolis we would discover
great grooves running north and south. At
a comparatively recent geological period
Indiana was covered with an immense
glacier thousands Of feet in thickness This
gigantic mass Of ice moved slowly south
ward, carrying underneath it a great GUAM
tlty of granite powders that f1uted and
gouged the rocky surface changing the
whole surface of the country. The cold
of this glacial period was not the result of
terrestrial changes, but was due to the fol-
lowing cosmical causes. When the eccen-
tricity of the earth's obit around the sun
is at its maximum, and by reason of the
procession of the equinoxes the northern
hemisphere of the earth is in aphelion. or
farthest from the sun in winter, the intense
cold of the winter months produces a state
of glaciation in our hemisphere. 1t is esti-
mated that the earth will be fourteen mil
lions of miles farther from the sun in winter
than in summer during such period. Since
the winter of the north corresponds with
the summer of the south, the southern
hemisphere would be enjoying perpetual
summer during our glacial period These
ice ages recur periodically with the changes
of planetary position-"great clocks of eter-
nifty that beat ages as ours beat seconds"
The time will again come when Indiana
will be covered with a vast ice field that
will obliterate every vestige of human ex-
istence. The great blocks Of stone in the
soldiers monument and S-stehouse will be
ground to powder beneath the slowly NOV
ing but irresistible ice mass.
JOHN c. DEAN.