Evening star., 1899-06-03

est star in the northern hemisphere. Spica
Is little west Of south, midway between
ArctuTus and the horizon. This star, the
Wheat Ear, stands very nearly al the CEN
ter Of the constellation Virgo. 1t is white
and Is of about the average first magni-
tude. DenebOla, in the tail of Leo. the
Lion. IS a bright secoud-magnitude star.
Cor Carroll, Charles Heart, so named for
Ens-anGs unfortunate monarch, Charles /,
stands about midway between Arcturus
and the bowl of the Great Dipper. now
nearly overhead. The star IS the principal
one in the Hunting Dogs (Canes VenaticD,
and though Of only the third magnitude is
quite conspicuous from its loneliness.
The splendid object seen at the left of
Spica, some ten degrees distant from it, is
the planet Jupiter. Farther to the left and
low in the southeast is the ruddy star
Antares. hardly up to the fun first magni-
tude. the principal star in the Scorpion.
Still farther TO the left and too low to be
seen We'll at Q o'clock. is the planet Saturn,
appearing as a yellow star of the first
InaGnitude- The planet Uranus. hardly vis-
lbie TO the naked eye. but easily seen with
an opera glass. IS about five degrees di-
rectly north of Antares.
Objects of Beauty
Just above the horizon in the east is the
frst-magnitUde star Affair in the Eagle
Between east and northeast, at one-third
OF the distance from the horizon to the
zenith. IS Vega, or Alpha Lyrae. the bright
est star in the Tyre Of Orpheus. Vega is a.
biulsh~white star. II Is one of the two
rivals Of Arcturus in brilliancy. The other,
Capella, is also now above the horizon. be-
tween north and northeast, but too low to
De Nislb.e- TWO other stars of the first
magnitude are now above the horizon al the
hour named, ResuIus in the west. the
DE.ELt star IN the handle of the Sickle,
%h!th forms the head and shoulders of
Leo, and POllux, the more scrtherly Of tho
w" I"hs, now low in the northwest The
DlltHI feidlsh star short distance west of
htStHuS Is the planet Mars
The constellation Virgo is now in tic bas+
PC9ll!oh Tor observing. being directly sou+b
-iNlIS across the meridian. This is ON. 81
80 we've CONSULTATIONS Of the zodiac-thc-
sixth, reckOned from Aries bur tbc So,
ehth' II We reckon from the present r,nsi
uoh "f the vernal equinox near the v;esf
eFn border of the constellation Pisces Wy
90 occupies the place OF the sign ihra
"h!ch the sun enters upon crossing tbs
celestial equator from north 10 south aboI,t
ii- is OF September. The crossing Dnint-
IHe dLtumndl equinuX-is at ab0uf tv,,
Al 'l'S Oh the distance from Spica to ReguIus
Procession of the Equinoxes.
Ihis point and that at which the sun
crosses the equator from south TO nor,b
about the 2lst Of March-thc vernaI eouf
h'X-are not fixed the celestial sphere.
hN1 hcih slide very slowly along the suns
PAIN dhe eclpuc) toward the west. This
Hl'' 'ntht Is known as the procession of
lHe tiCInoNes- 1t Is caused by a slow gy-
I@t"ry motion Of the earth as IL turns on
itS axis, and its rate Is such that il takes
ABOUT Eb'So years for the equiuoxes Ia
make the complete tour of the heayenc
W" thousand years ago tn sun, on cross
ing 'he Iine- entered Libra; il now enters
virgo at that time, two thousand y4ar;
hence tlc autumnal equinox Will have slim
PED Westward To near the star Reg1rius and
tH- sun VIII then enter Leo upon passing
from the northern To the southern hem
isuhere. -
Virgo is one Of those mystifying con-
steld;ious of which our poor modern eve
hlShi can md few or no traces among the
stars II Is impossible To discover here
even The most shadpwy Semhlauce of that
winged maiden which may be seen depicted
upon chart OF the heavens and We might
CONJECTURE that the wings were invention
ot the artist who drew the hgur-, Were
They not referred to by AIattus as early
a The third century Il. &. The most strik-
Ing part Of The constellation is Il large "
SNAPPED hgure. which springs from the star
Sp'cd. as It's base, the arms OF the Y-pos-
sib!y the original wings Of the mafden-be-
Ing formed by branching group Of five
stars, Of which the brightest are of the
third magnitude The central one of these
five stars is Gamma Virgiuis one of the
finest double stars in the heavens easily
seen 10 be double with a small telescope
and interesting as one of the first double
stars which Sir William Herschei discover.
ed to be binary" That is to say Hersche
discovered that the components of Gamma
Virgins are revolving one about the other
Ike the two balls of dumbbel tossed into
the air.
New stars.
On the chart given herewith may b
found at the lower left-haud side small
dotted circle. marked Nova. 1s9S. This in
dicates the position of the new star re
Gently discovered in Sag:ttarius by Mrs
Fleming at the Harvard College obser
vatory, from an examination Of the Drape
memorial photographs. The new star ap
pears to have broken out some time i
March, 1898. When at its brightest it wa
of the fifth magnitude. and might easil.
nave been discovered with the naked eye
had any one familiar with the stars bee