Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-01-31
THE DISTANT PLElADEs.
An Occultation by Last Nights Young
Moon and Some Remarks PERTH
nent Thereto.

Any one sufficiently aeclimated to a
temperature lowering in the vicinity Of
zero, minus zero at that, and romanti-
cally or astronomically enough inclined
to be star gazing, late last evening,
could have seen very Interesting
sight, for an occultation of the Pleiades
| occurred. The moon in it's monthly
journey, passes between the earth and
many of the. stars, so that they are tenn
porarily hidden from view. The occult
alton of very bright stars is visible to
the naked eye, but oftimes as the moon
approaches, it's greater light seems to
extinguish the lesser light of the star,
and the oecultation is not clear. Seen
through a powerful telescope when the
limb of the moon is in line between the
observers eye and the star, the latter
suddenly Vanishes After lapse of an
hour, more or less, the star reappears.
The temperance and the disappear
ance of the star are instantaneous.
Who does not recall the classical
myth of the seven daughters of Atlas
and the Nymph Pleione? Of their great
love to each other aid their otherwise
amiable virtues which one old story
tells us, caused them to be placed after
their death among the stars as a re-
ward. The more familiar tale is. how
ever, that Orion, the mighty hunter. see
ing these virtuous and amiabIe daugh-
ters Of Atlas, became enannored of them
and relentlessly pursued them over hill
and dale, until Jupiter, plying their
distress, placed them among the stars
The Pleiades are Familiarity known as
the seven sisters" only six of them.
however, are visible to the unaided eye
Electra, in her grief at the burning Of
Troy, is said to have hid her face in her
hands, but she must by this time have
recovered for she is now, next to Alcy-
one, the brightest star of the cluster
Merope is said to have lost her lustre
because OF her marriage with Slsyphlls
mortal, while her sisters married
gods. But she certainly cannot be the
lost Pleiades, for she is now one of
the stars visible to the eye, while her
SISTER Asterope. who is said to have
married the god Mars, has faded away
until only strong telescope renders
her visible.
Ihe Pleiades are among the earliest
mentioned of the groups of stars, being
noticeable doubtless from their mo-
turesque situation in the neck of the
constellation Taurus. One Nader
ABOUT % years ago, declared that Al
cyone, the brightest star Of the gro,1n
-
Prof Young asserts sit is not nrobabIe
that there is any central sun, or that
Alcyone is the centre of the universe .
The distance of the Pleiades from the
earthNis !ncalculable, they being hun
dreds OF billions Of miles away, SO that
the persons Who have looked at the oc-
culation last night, did not see the
Pleiades as they are existing today but
rather as they existed $50 years ago.
This cluster of stars is not limited to
seven, but, seen through a powerful
telescope, they are found to number no
less than 5000, truly a big body guard
70 protect the lovely daughters Of At
las from the tender Establishments OF
Orion But a sorrowful fact which
must however. be told, in justice to
Orion, Is that astronomers declare that
he is not pursuing these maidens, but
they are actually new women enough to
be pursuing him, and it is regretful to
also state that they are gaining on him.