The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-02-08

| Orion nebula lies in the midst of the stars
which form the constellation or is merely
| in the same line of sight, either ON this
| side of them or beyond them. Among the
| reasons for thinking that it lies III the
midst of these stars snd Is connected with
| them physically is the fact that many of
! the stars of Orion agree in having n Ger
tain dark spectrum line, which appears to
coincide with one of the bright lines OF
the nebula and which has been observed
| in but few stars i'll any other part of
the heavens. This region would seem
therefore. to stand apart by itself, as in
some sense a separate department Of ere
alton. lis stars, its suns, appear TO lie IN
some respects different from lhoe in other
parts of the heavens; and, apparently, too,
the work of world formation, is still ac-
lively going on here, on scale Of which
the grandeur utterly battles the .eehle
power of our imagination to conceive.
The variable star Algol--al- Ghul the
Demon--will be at minimum OF bril-
liancy at o'clock this evening. To find
the star face the west. Observe a line OF
four second magnitude stars which curves
downward between Cassiopeia and Aries to
one corner of the Square of Pegasus. now
partly below the horizon. The uppermost
of these four stars in Alpha Persei, the
principal star is Perseus. The remaining
three belong TO Andromeda. the uppermost
being Gamma in her left foot the central
one Geta, in her belt the lowermost Alpha.
In her head. AlgOl lies at the left of a
line drawn from Alpha Persei TO Gamma
Andromeda. with which two stars 1t forms
nearly right -angled triangle.
The popularity of Algol is that after
shining as a star of the second magnitude
for about two and a half days ii begins to
lose its light, and in the space Of about
four hours 1t drops to the fourth magni-
tude. Having remained thus for fifteen
or twenty minutes, 1t begins TO brighten.
and in about four hours thereafter it has
recovered its usual brilliancy. The ex
PLANTATION of this singular behaviour now
considered to be fully established is that
the star has q dark companion. which re-
wolves about 1t In an orbit turned edge
wise toward u.s. and which passes periodi-
cally between ii and lis and cuts off Dor
ton of its light. When first seen tonight
the star will be of only the fourth magni-
tude If one will keep watch upcn It.
il will be found to be Frightening slowly.
BY midnight il Will equal In brilliancy the
two other stars with which 1t forms a tri-
angle.
Mercury Is now morning star. II may
be looked for In the southeast half hour
or so before sunrise II Is unfayorably
situated for observing. however, and Ia not
likely to be seen except when the sky is
unusually clear.
Venus will be morning stare until the
18th OF the month, and after that date an
evening star. She is too near The sun 10
be visible
Venus will be a morning star until the
and one-half hours west of the sun II
may possibly be seen on clear morning
low In the southeast, Just before daybreak.
Jupiter is an evening star, IN the con-
stellation Of Virgo. rising at about 10
o'clock. On the cath OF last month JuDi-
ter was stationary. He Is now retrograd-
ing.
Saturn and Uranus both in the constel-
lation, Scorpio. are morning stars, rising
at about 8 a. m
Neptune, in Taurus. about two degrees
northwest of the more southerly OF the
two stars which tip the Bulls horns. Is
the only planet now about the horizon at
0 p. m. 1t Is invisible, OF course, to the
naked eye.
No we'll regulated household should be
u T. An