Evening star., 1899-06-03

observing closely this part of the heavens
at that time. 1t diminished in brightness
rapidly and by the end of April it was of
only the eighth magnitude. A photograph
taken at the Harvard College observatory
March Q of this year showed that 1t was
still visible, but reduced to the tenth mag
nitude A second dotted circle on our chart
in the lower part of Ophiuchus indicates
the place where the famous new star OF
1904, known as keplerS star, made its ap-
pearance This star is described as being
when first discovered nearly, if not quite,
as bright as Venus when at her brightest.
Like all other new stars which have been
observed, 1t decreased in splendOr rapidly
and disappeared in about fifteen months
that IS, to the naked eye, for this was be-
fore he invention of the telescope.
New stars. or ''novae," as they are now
called. are longer the starting phe-
nomena which they Were in the time of
Tycho Brahe and Kepler. So many have
appeared-over twenty since 15I2-that they
have come to be recognized as part OF the
established order of things. though astron-
omers have not yet agreed among them
selves as to the cause of their sudden out
break Of Splendor. The spectrOscope has
shown that their light comes largely from
glowing gases, of which hydrogen and he
Iium seem to be the most abundant Thus
the spectrum of this latest nova in Sagit-
tarius contains, Prof. Pickering tells us,
fourteen bright lines. six of which belong
to hydrogen" Perhaps the NEST probabt e
explanation of these new stars is afforded
by the meteOric theory of Sir Norman
Lockyer. according to which they are pro-
duced by the collision of two swarms of
meteorites-
Runaway Star.
At the right or west Of Cor Carroll. about
ten degrees distant from 1.-THE distance
across the bowl of the Great Dipper-s an
especially Interesting star, though, unfor-
tunately invisible to the naked eye. being
6p n
the not very euphonious name, 1880
Groombridge," and which is known in nom
ular astronomy as the Runaway Star"
This star is remarkable for its great "prop-
er notion All of the stars are now known
TO be moving in space and, therefore,
changing their positions the face of the
sky, but no other star so rapidly as this
It moves so fast astronomicalIy speaking
that in about two hundred and fifty years
II changes Its position to the extent of one
diameter of the moon. To have this APP
parent motion 1t has been estimated that
/ its actual rate cannot be less than seventeen
million miles n day. which Is more than ten
times the speed with which the earth trav-
els in its orbit. Prof Newcomb says that
all the suns in the universe pulling together
could never have given this star its great
speed, nor will they ever be able to stop its
motion. Seemingly this runaway came
| from outside the bounds of our heavens and
Is destined 10 pass beyond the uttermOst
stars visible to us-tO travel into empty
space, no one can imagine whittier
The Planets.
Mercury will be morning star until the
18th. and after that date an evening star,
but it will not be visible during the month.
| Venus is a morning star, and may be seen
an hour more before sunrise, low in the
! southeast.
| Mars. Jupiter Saturn and Uranus are all
! evening stars and are all above the hori-
| zon at 0 pm, in the positions already point
| ed out. Mars is too far away to be an OBJ
| 5ect of much interest. Jupiter, though a
/ little less brilliant than when in opposition
/ April %, Is still magnificent object both
/ for the naked eye and for the telescope
| Saturn Will be in opposition, and will there
| fore be at its brightest, the 10th of this
month. The rings are now wide "open .
I presenting their northern faces, and tho
/ planet is at its best as a telescope object
! But. unfortunately for observers in the
/ northern hemisphere, 1t runs low" being
| now about where the sun is at Christmas
/ A ninth satellite of Saturn-or what is sup
| posed to be q satellite, though it may prove
| TO be an outer panet-has been discovered
| by Prof. W. H. Pickering from photographs
! taken at ArequiDa, in Peru. last August
/ Curiously enough the same month in which
! Wits new planet. Eros. was discovered
At the last accounts the observations avail
/ able had not enabled Prof. Pickering to de
| revolution. 1t is of less than the fifteenth
I magnitude. and can hardly be more thar
| TWO hundred miles in diameter.
On the 2lSt the sun will enter Cancer, anC
/ the day will be al its lOngest-fifteen hour!
in the latitude of Washington.