Evening star., 1899-02-04

liIle JoIHlHS lnem be-
ing diameter incloses a region unequaled
for splendor by any other OF equal extent
in the whole heavens
Within this limited area are the constel-
lations Orion, Taurus. Auriga and Gemini
all brilliantly adorned with bright stars
Orion contains two of the first magnitude
-Betelgeuse, in the right shoulder and
Rigel, in the left foot-and four of the
second magnitude. These are the Three
Kings, which form the belt of the hunts
man, and Bellatrix, in his left shoulder.
Salph, at the opposite corner of the con-
stellation, in the right knee, is of the third
magnitude
A straight line run from Sirius to the
Three Kings and prolonged to an equal
distance beyond them strikes AIdebaran.
in the head of Taurus. Prolonged still
further, to distance two-thrds as great.
IT strikes the Pleiades. in the Bulls
shoulder.
At the left of Sirius forming with it
and Betelgeuse a large equal-sided triangle.
is Procyon. the Little Dog. Nearly over
| head, little east of the zenith are The
IWins GeminD, Castor and Pollux The
former-the upper of the two-is of the sec
ond magnitude. Pollux is somewhat
brIshter and is usually regarded as a first
magnitude star. Between Capella and the
mead OF Orion may be seen a second and
somewhat wider pair, of which one is of
the second and the other of the third n7ao
hllude: These are the tips of the golden
| horns of Taurus.
Mars as Evening Star.
To add still greater luster to this splen-
| dld region of the heavens, the planet Mars
Is now posing here as an evening star close
| beside the Twins, its brilliant ruddy light
fully equaling that OF ten ordinary stars of
| the first magnitude.
Through he midst of +l,ae, -
runs the Milky Way, arching the heavens
| IN a direction from southeast to northwest
and now passiag-at 8 o'clock-nearly over
mead This Milky Way is one of the grand
| mysteries of the heavens. Astronomers
| have held and still hold the most diverse
| opinions respecting it. The one thing GER
tain about it is that it's faint nebulous glow
| Is Que to the blended light of millions of
stars, Whlch are too faint TO be seen with
| the naked eye but which sparkle like dia-
mond dust IN thu field of a telescope. II
mas been estimated that the whole num-
Der OF the stars, down to the fourteenth
magnitude inclusive, is about 2o0D0 900
and that of this number is 100000 or nine.
tenths, lie in a girdle of the heavens SIXTY
degrees broad, along the center of which
runs the Milky Way
In the Milky Way.
Are the stars which form the Milky Way
suns comparable in size with our owl, SIM
their faintness being due to their enormous
ieiiolehesS from US, or are they really the
small bodies which they seem to be, perhaps
at no great distance from US, star dis
tances are reckoned? There is no wav of
deciding this question off-hand. Until re-
Gently, however, the former of these two
views has been held 10 be the more nrohab1s
This was Herschers idea of the Milky Nav
HerSchel conceived that the miIlions of snn,,
which make up the universe We're arranoad
not IN the globular form which the sldereai
heavens seem 10 have, but in the form of an
enormous qlsk or Iense-shaped figure our
sun DelnS located somewhere near its CEN
ter. Upon this view, which in a modified
form, is still presented in most of our text
BOOKS OF astronomy as affordng, on the
Whole, the best explanation of the appear
ance OF the heavens, the Milky Way is an
optical effect. II is due to the circumstance
That in this direction we look into a more
profound depth of stars-of words succeed
ing words in almost ineXhaustible profu-
slon-than when We face the regions far
thest from 1t, where the stars are the few
est, on either side.
What Photography Shows.
Photography has lately been brought to
bear upon this problem of the nature of the
Milky Way. and its testimony is not favor
able TO the Herschelian theory. On the con-
trary, the impression which one cannot
avoid receiving from Photographic presenta
tions of the Milky Way is that It is cloud
like in its formation, and, moreover that
ii is a cloud or mass of clouds of no very
great thickness relatively to its breadth
In other words, the Milky Way presents in
it's photographs the same appearance as 10
the naked eye but brought out with great
er clearness, particularly when the pictures
are looked at from little distance and in
a proper light. These pictures have a curl
Gus faxed or curdle appearance. Here and
there in them are areas of more than the
average brightness, suggestive of a gather
ing and condensation of the 'star dust in
these places, and here and there are darker
areas, some of which are almost destitute
of stars-spots nearly black, which have
every appearance Of being openings in this
cloud bank, through which vision seems
to penetrate through the Milky Way to a
dark starless region beyond.
An Estimate of Distance.
It would be interesting to know how far
away this Milky Way is Perhaps the most
significant fact upon which to base an esti-
mate Of its distance from us is one to