Evening star., 1898-11-05

| not suns, such as we believe the most OF
the stars to be. 1t is hardly conceivable
that massive body, like the sun. when
once II had become so intensely rot no
matter how, whether by collision With an
other massive body or in some other WAY
as TO be brilliantly luminous snouIo part
with Its heat and light as rapidly as these
stars pale. Sir Norman Lockyer, acco,tnt-
ing for these novae upon his ''meteoritio
theory, says that they ere dle 10 collisions
OF sWarms OF meteorites. ami. though thls
account of them IS still nnacceDte1 nv
many eminent astronomers IL Is as Lock-
yer has expounded and supported H. the
most plausible of any whicn has yet been
offered.
Mira and AIgoI
The peculidrity Of the variable star Mira
was described last month. This "wonder-
ful' star is outdoing itself this year. and
therefore is an object of very especial in
'erest. Usually 1t stops in its increase OF
nrllIiancy at about the third magnitude.
This has bean its record in the last threa
or four years. Early in October of this
year however, 1t had already surpassnd
lhis limit considerably. When last oh
served by the writer il was as bright as
Mehkar, OF the second magnitude II nor
brighter. though its maximum is NOT aue
unul ABOUT the LIST of November
10 hnd Mira look first for Menkar This
star makes with the Pleiades anl the pair
OF stars in the head of Aries a large eonal-
sided triangle. Mira is the red sta- which
may now be seen at the right of Menkar.
at about one-third of the distance from IL
10 Deneb, in the tail of Cetus
AiSol Will be at minimum of hrJgl,.
ness on the 11th of the month et II "a
pm and again on the 14th at S:25 n m
II requires about eight hours to conplet,
IIs chanse from the second TO the fourth
magnitude and back to its usual hriybt
ness. As has before been explained The
variation in the light of Algol is caused
by the periodical passage between MS ana II
OF dark satellite.
MeteOrs.
On the 18th and 18th OF the r,onrh NE
may expect the annual visitation Of tho
Leonids," the meteors so called from ,ha
circumstance that the point in the heaven
from the direction of which they all seem
10 shoot-their "pediant"-is in the CON-
seeIiaton Leo very nearly at the center
OF the curve of the Sickle"
These meteors are now pretty wall ,,p
uetstoou They form vast cluster or
rather stream, of small bodies and par-
ucles OF matter-bits OF stone and metal
Wnlch circle round the sun in an ,.lIintical
ORBIT OF such size that at its outerrnost
unit 1t passes just beyond the orbit of the
pidnet Uranus. The revolution of tlis
cluster, which has breadth OF about lO0.-
UO miles and length OF many millions OF
miles, Is performed in thirty-three and a
quarter years. The earth annually crosses
this meteor orbit, on the date given aboye
encounterihg struggling members of the
meteor group, which, dashing into the
earths atmosphere with a velocity Of
about forty miles second. and being heat
ed by the friction Of the air fash out mo-
mentarily as shooting stars" Three times
IN a century the main body of the rneteors
is encountered, and then occur those start
ing phenomena known as meteor show
ers." The last shower" of Leonids oc-
CURED in 1865, and was witnessed in Eu-
rope; the next is due in 1899
NO shower is expected this wear h,.
experience is that in the year or two pre-
oeding the grand display metenrs are un-
usually plentiful on the regular meteor
nights forerunners of the advancing
swarm. The display is always the finest
after midnight, for before tnat time the
radiant is below the horizon. The show
er, when one occurs, lasts for about five
hours, and il can be witnessed cnlv nv
those who chance to De l0caueI favorably;
that is, on the advancing side of the earth
BE forewarned but do not be too SAN
guine of seeing any very unusual display Of
these celestial pyrotechnics.
The Planets.
Mercury has been an evening star since
the 18th of last month but Il now runs
so low in the southwest that it will not
be visible except on very clear evenings
in the latter part of the month.
Venus was at her greatest brillIancy on
the 27th of last month, and is still a glo-
rioUs evening star. 1t is rapidly drawing
in toward the sun and Will cease To be vis-
ible before the end of the month
Mars is now an evening star in Cancer
rising at about 10 pm. 1t will soon be-
come an object of great interest.
None of the other planets is now favor
ably situated for naked-eye observers All
except Neptune are now grouped about
the sun.
Epicures here in the east are developing
SDPrimaDg of he