Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-08-03

Sagittarius and Draco will DO on the
meridian about 8 O'Clock during the
August evenings. Lyra becomes o
very conspicuous constellation by the
first magnitude star Vega, ono of the
finest stars in the whole heavens.
Although there are as yet no suf-
ficiently reliable methods OF accurately
measuring the size of fixed stars. it is
certain that Vega 10 many times larger
than our own sun. There are two stars
of the fourth magnitude, Epsilon and
Zeta, at n very short distance from
Vega, of which the former is quad
ripple star, forming system OF four
suns revolving about each other. Due
east of Lyra is the constellation Cygnus,
forming large cross, and which will
be described in our next article. West
OF Lyra the largo and fine constellation
Hercules is slowly bending toward the
western horizon. Southeast of Lyra
three stars, in short, straight line,
form the characteristic feature of the
constellation Aquila, or the Eagle.
The star in the middle is Alpha
Aquilae, or Affair, which has been
chosen as the standard first magnitude
star. The two stars on both sides of ii
and at equal distances from it are Beta
and Gamma. The southern part of
Aquila has been sometimes con-
sidered constellation Of its own under
the name of Antinous, and existed
even as such in the time of Ptolemy,
who, however, declined to adopt ii
among his famous As. In modern times
part of Antinous was called by
Hevelius Scutum Sobieski, or the
Shield OF Sobieski, in honor of the
Polish hero King, but it is disre-
garded by most astronomers and the
whole region assigned to Aquila.
Looking south we sec a constellation
within the belt of the zodiac which
certainly bears striking resemblance
to an inverted milk dipper. " This
is Sagittarius, or the Archer. The
milk diprer is formed by the five stars,
Lambda, Phi, Sigma. Tau and Zeta,
the last four forming the bowl and
Lambda marking the handle and lying
in the Milky Way. Three other stars,
forming an isosceles triangle, are situ-
ated southwest of the howl the whole
group presenting a remarkable con-
tiguration that cannot fail to engage
the gazer's attention. A striking
peculiarly of Sagittarius consists in
the fact that the portion Of the Milky
Way lying within the constellation is
very bright, but full of knots and
streamers and dark pockets. Between
Cygnus and Affair there is the small
constellation Sagitta, or the Arrow.
which belongs to the ancient AS of
Ptolemy. Draco is one of the five cir
cumpolar consultations that never set
in our latitude. The stars of this con-
stellation form a long curve, meander
ing halfway around the pole and sep
arating the two Bears. The head of
the Dragon is marked by the four stars
Beta, Gamma, Zeta and M, forming
an irregular quadriateral which is
always near Vega. The point of biseo-
tion of the line connecting Mizar in
the handle of the Great Dipper with
Gamma in Ursa Minor is marked by
| Alpha Draconis, or Thuban, which
1900 years ago was the pole star. In
consequence of the procession of the
equinoxes the position of the true pole
of the heavens is slowly changing
Our present pole star, Polaris, happens
at present to be- near the pole of the
heavens, ut the distance of Ia degrees
from it. Within the coming century
Polar:s will come within half degree
of the true pole, and then will begin
| to recede. In 1900 years it can no
longer lay claim to the appellation OF
the Pole Star, but to the brilliant star