Evening star., 1898-11-05

in her most royal situation At her right.
but at lower altitude stands her rather
| Inferior consort Cepheus. At her left. and
also at a lower altitude, stands Persons
brandisfing in his right hand an invisible
sword and swinging in his left the fright
1ui mead of Medusa, represented by the
Demon star, Algol. Beneath Perseus sits
the Wagner. Auriga. his left shoulder
marked by the brilliant star Capella. now
at about two-ffths of the distance from
the horizon to the zenith.
In tie east Orion is partly above the
horizon, both of his brilliants, Betelgeuse
and Rigel, being visible Above the head
OF Orion may be seen Aldebaran the Bulls
Eye, in Taurus, at one corner of the V
shaped cluster of the Hyades which forms
the Bulls face. Still higher are the Plei-
ades, in the Bulls shoulder, and higher
still is the conspicuous pair of stars-one
OF the second and one of the third magnl-
tude-which mark the head of Aries
The bright star seen little west of south
and at rather low altitude is Fomalhaust,
IN the Southern Fish. Between this star
and Aldebaran, occupying the larger por-
ton OF The southeastern quadrant of the
heavens, lies the enormous Sea Monster or
Whale, Cetus the brightest two stars of
which-Menkar, the ''Snout," and Deneb
kaitos, the Tail both of the second mag
nitude-may be picked out easily and will
serve to fix the location of this decidedly
fanctful constellation.
In the west are the Eagle. containing the
first magnitude star Affair; the Dolphin,
better known as Jobs Coffin-a little group
of six or eight small stars, of which four
form small diamond-shaped figure, and,
at the right of these, the Swan (Cygnus)
or Northern Cross. Between the Cross and
the northwestern horizon Is the Lyre con-
tanning the star Vega, the rival of Capella
in hrillancy, Directly overhead are Pc
gasus and Andromeda.
Andromeda.
This constellation lies between the great
Square" of Pegasus and Perseus 1t con-
tains three stars of the second magnitude
Alpha, in the head-this star, known also
as Alpheratz, forms one corner of the
SQuare-Beta, in the belt, and Gamma in
the left foot.
Andromeda is interesting to modern star
gazers, mainly because of its great nebula,
and this nebula is what attracts us to-
night. We shall find it almost exactly in
zenith 1t lies near the northernmost of
the three stars-two of them of only the
fourth magnitude-which form the maiden's
belt, appearing to the naked eye
blurred star of about the fourth magnitude.
An opera glass shows its nebulous char
acter Enthusiastically. Through small tele-
scope it has the appearance described by
Simon Marius. who first turned telescope
upon ii, as that of "a candle shining
through horn" With such an instrument
we see only the nucleus, or core of the
nebula, which photography has portrayed
to us as an enormous spiral whorl, set part
ly edgewiSe to us so as to present IN per-
spective an ellfptical figure.
Nova in AndrOmeda.
In August, 1885,, this nebua sprang sud-
denly into notoriety through the appear
ance in it of a new star. When first seen
the star-or nova as such an apparition
is now called by astronomers-was of about
the eighth magnitude. 1t rapidly declined
in brlliancy, as such stars always do, and
by the following February IL had practi-
cally disappeared, being then barely visible
through the largest telescopes
Another nova has lately broken out in
this Andromeda nebula, very nearly at its
center, though, unfortunately for as, to see
it requires a three-inch telescope at the
least, for this new star is only of about
the tenth magnitude. At the time of writ
ing October 26) no account has been re-
ceived of any spectroscopic observations of
it. but doubtless astronomers are doing
their best to get record of its spectrum,
as they did of that of its predecessor.
The nova of 1855 proved to be a very diff
cult object for the spectroscope, because of
it's faintness Its spectrum did not appear
to differ greatly from that of the nebula it
self. 1t was 'faintly continuous" and the
most of the observers detected ir 1t few
bright lines, indicating that is light came
partly from gaseous matter.
What is Nova:
Inc OrlSln anu nature w lnSSe new VI
Temporary stars, which occasionally flash
out suddenly in the heavens, is still an
astronomical enigma. Sometimes they are
of great brilliancy, was tnat which ap-
peared in Cassiopeia in 1872. known as "Ty
cho Brahe's star" which Is said TO have
equaled in spIendor Venus, when at ncr
brightest. Usually they disappear entirely
in a few weeks or a few months, but not
always. star which suddenly appeared
In the Northern Crown in May, 1867. ard
which when first seen was of the second
magnitude, still exists as slightly variable
star of about the tenth magnitude And in
at least two instances a nova" has finally
settled down into the condition of neb-
ula.
Whatever may be the complete explena-
ton of these suddenly appearing sta--like
objects, it is fairly certain that they are