Evening journal., 1899-12-06

nernlexing to not few that such IN
concelvaNbly lfGht nodes \ as comets
move In orbits h,ke stSlid m esses. but it (
NUT not be forgotten tha = as most
people hava experienced. THU lightest
bodies move rs quickly in a " acuum as
the heaviest. and that tho inA terplane-
taIy space is a tar moro perfect vacuum
than the mCSt, uerfect air-pa mp c24
produce it nAIst. however, NOD DO ~
ferrei that b-Ahuae the moan lerslty
Of q comet is aulkll. that OF itS q onstit-
uent PARTICLES qAlst necessarily DO sol
TOO. The reader can easily "a npre-
bend that small eavy particles, Swhlcn
are widely separaTed may consti,s ute z
body of an extremely small de pslty'
There are soma very cogent reason TOT
the supposition that comet is in J eaN
ity made up OF such small bodies, h'
fact that q comet is nothing but an g IS
semblagc Of little mCtcors. though ~
the magnitude Of eadh of these mel
teoric bodies we IRE unable to say any
thing certain. AS to the orbits ia
which comets move there prevailui'
great variety. While all the otherll
members as planets and satellites
move in ellipaes. the comets move ins
oNipseh. parabolas anal hyperbolas, the
latter Two being curves that. do not
elise. but having the property common
with he ellipse Of lieing comic Sec
tioik. OF the comets the orbits OF
which have been computed "A per cent.
are larabolic Those whose orbits are
ellip..es have either returned periodical
". or their orbits have been so changed
BIZ rerturbations as to come no longer
near enough to the earth to be seen.
run, CoN-cq,rf ATroNfc
South Of the constellation Persuasive
seeN at about o'clock in the evening
I'm course OF the month OF December
two stafs OF the third magnitude
which. in conjunction OF a fainter star,
form al small right triangle with one
leg rather short This is the little
constellation Triangulum, or the Tri-
angle which would be too unimpOr-
tant 20 he mentioned were IL not for
the fact OF its pertaining to the an
cient fOlty-eight OF Ptolemy. Due south
of the Triangle three stars at short dis
tances from each. other constitute the
characteristics configuation of the zod-
iacal constellation Aries. or the Ram,
which. according to Hipparchus, the
most famous of the astronomers of an
ltiqulty. and Justly called the Father of
Astronomy. occupied the first sign in
the eclipLc, which means that at that
time the veTnaf equinox was in that
constellation.l In consequence. OF the
lpr2eesglqn. Of the .eguinoxes. the con.
stellhtfon Aries has shifted into the
/ sign of Taurus. The principal star in
| Aries is Alpha, or Hamal, pretty
double star. and one OF the nautical
stars which enable the navigator to
determine the place where he is by
Of ~
| from the moon. The other two stars
in that constellation are Beta and
Gamma. all three forming very OBJ
/ tusc triangle with the Obtusc triangle
at Beta. Northeast of Alpha is little
4 star, f0rty-One Arietls, which, with
Gamma Tranquil and Alpha Arietis.
forms a little asterism, sometimes call
led Musca, or the Fly, but on the whole
! seldom mentioned in the catalogues Of
stars. South of Aries and Pisces Is sit
uated the largest constellation IN the
heavens-Cctus. or the Sea Monster
It's head lies about 20 degrees south
east of Alpha lAriotis and is marked
! boy. a pentagonal figure OF stars The
J southernmOst side of this figure is |
formed by the stars Alpha, or Mankar, |
! and Gamma. Southwest OF the latter
at considerable distance from II is |
/, the star Beta. or Deneb Ccti the
7 brightest in the whole constellation |
This star marks tho tail OF tho mon |
ster in this constellation, near It's
I center lies the celebrated variable star. |
2 Omicron Ceti, OF, by its more familiar
name, Mira, meaning the Wonderful. |
i Its nature as q variable star was dis |
= covered in 1896. During the greater
. time of its variability il is very
Z faint star of the ninth magnitude. in
, visible TO the unaided eye, but once in |
p i months it assumes the brightness of |
, the fourth and third and even the sec
4 ond magnitude. The constellation Per- /
a seus. in the north, and Taurus, I'm the |
: northeast, are closely approaching the
meridian, while in the west Aguila and
! Capricomus have set and Vega and
/ C5gnlls are on the point Of setting. |
4 Capella and Aldebaran. with the
Pleiades, are high up, and in the east
! the, most brilliant group OF constella- /
!, tons in the whole heavens are rising
q up, above all the magnificent star-pic-
= turel Orion. The presence OF these at
+. an early hour Of the evening announces
. the coming OF the winter season.-The |
v Baltimore Sun.
LIGHT HAS BEEN MOVED