The Portland daily press., 1900-01-27
PLANETS AND STARS.
now 60 Tell Them Apsrt-Test for
Nsksd-Eye observera
fNsr York E,sning Post }

(Nsw York Evening Post
We do not know what msn nrst dis-
covered plsnsts In the sky. II may have
bsn sumo shepherd, tending his hooks.
perhaps upon the plains Of Chsldea.
surely In the fsr-sway, misty early he
siunines Of mankind uron the earth.
Aud yet 10 this d,y the test BY which the
unsided eye can most easily distinguish
a planet from o star remains the same az
that which must have revealed the frst
. lanst 10 the ear lest Of astronomical oh.
ssrvers The very name p lauet tells the
history Of an epoch h-marking discovery
just as surely as though a written record
OF its making had been handed down to
Us through successive generations Of
men. "Planst" sianines "wanderer. 4"
IL comes from an ancient Greek word Of
that meaning. And In truth, to an un-
learned. unlettsred shepherd Of today the
planets must APPEAR just ~ they did to
his long-psft forsrunner OF Chaldea. aim
less. Iawiess wan ierlBR stars within the
ssrrisd array Of heavens ntght.
IL ID ever the characteristic Of genios TO
disentan the simple ta,io phsnomena
Of nature from among the complex re-
suits exhibited to this eye Of casual OF
server. SO We shall not err In ascrihins
enius 10 tho man who first noted the
tfsns,s' pssuiisrity OF travelling among
tas other itarJ, and 10 designating bis
diEovery an epoch making one. Tns
whole sky 10 thickly studded with the so
called fixed stars. 30 tar ss the naked
ere observer can tall, they all retain pre-
oisely the same relative positions In re.
spsct to one another from year 10 year
y "a ssie,t . certain trianels or quad
r .ngls Of stars 40 they rise In the east
you will sse them slowly climb the SKY
and again dssosnd ami Get In the west,
always forming pssoisely the same geo
mstsical figure. Nor 10 this all. IL the
were Gearohed, With osre. juss the same
triangle or quadrangle Of stars would te
found desoritet ~ having always been
seen to rise and set, then as now, 60 long
~ men have wAtohed the sky.
But suppcss thsrs were planet with
In the center Of our triangle Of stars As
w watched nj sht after night We should
see the planet slowly change Its place
within ths triangle. by impsroeptible
degrees but with q continuous and cumu-
lstive motion the planst would approAon
one Of the triangls's sides ana at length
would pass FAR beyond ana aWAy. ~ IL
thus that the Hrst rlanst must have bsen
differentiated from tie stars, and thus
again the naked -sys astronomer OF today
an test proCesd 10 elementary planetary
study. Note carefully the heavenly bodies
you suspsos of being planets. Fix In
your n Ind, or Oh q diagram, ttelr POSI-
tions with rsspeo. 70 neigh boring stars
and you will speedily come into posses
sion Of evidence as to the planetary na-
ture Of the body undsr obssrvatioa. One
planet detected In this way will AFFORD
more sAtisf sotiop and encouraging In
struction to the beginner In astronomy
than much stndy sy the aid OF looks or
teRohcrs
1t 10 tree that other ,haractsristics OF
the planets will help In their identihca-
tion BY the unaidsd eye: In the nfst
place. the planets are usually very bright.
though not often surprising the most lu-
cid OF the exed stars. Again, the planets
are said not to twinkle. Many observers
would not consider this strictly accurate,
though 1t IL certainly . fact that the
twinkipg Of the planets Is less than tnst
Of Q me 3rity Of the stars. But In the
abfenee OF telescope tie only sure test
II the rrefence Of such motion among the
stars % We have described. Into the
causes OF this motion 10 10 not our tntsn-
tion to enter. Suffice 10 to cay that it 10
due to tbs planets revolution In their
nnn asl orbits about the sun. This makes
ttew change their positions In space. and
Sd We oan see them proiecsed on different
parts OF the distant vault Of the sky at
different dates OF observation