Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-03
HEAVENS in MARCH
Amateur Astronomers Will Find
Much of Real Interest.
STARS AND how TO LOCATE THEM
Consultations That May Be Studied
With Profit Now.
THE MANY STELLAR TWINS


Written for The Evening Star.
The most notable of the consultations
now. in favorable positions for observing at
. pm. are Orion. in the southwest; Taurus
and Auriga, in the west: the Ursa Major,
or Great Bear. in the northeast: Leo. the
Lion, between east and southeast, and Gem
mi. the Twins, nearly overhead.
The great X-like figure of Orion is an as
terism too familiar to every one to need
description. 1t is probably one of the very
oldest of the consultations. as it is certain
ly the most imposing. Two of its stars,
Betelgeuse-Bat el-Jauza. the Armpit Of
the Giant-and Rigel CRijal. the Foot, are
of the first magnitude. Four others are of
the second magnitude, namely, Bellatrix in
| the left shoulder and the three which form
the belt and which are sometimes called
| the Three Kings. Other names for these
three stars are Jacobs Staff and, fourth
star in the hilt of the sword being added,
the Yard l., or, as the name Is sometimes
written. the Yard and Ell. The length of
this belt is just about three degrees, point
useful to remember. 1t is also to be noted
that the celestial equator passes very close
to the uppermost of these three stars. so
that the constellation lies oue-half In the
northern and one-half in the southern hem
isphere.
The Celestial Bull.
Taurus, the Bull, now seen AZ we face
| the west, contains star of the first
magnitude. Aidebaran, sometimes called
| the Bulls Eye" and also the finest two
of the naked eye star-clusters. the Hyades
and Pleiades. Taurus Is not particularly
striking figure; yet, anciently 1t was one or
the most useful of the consultations. TWO
thousand years ago it rose, that Is to say,
it made its first appearance above the hori-
zon at daybreak, about the first OF April.
1t therefore served the husbandman as an
excellent guide in laying out his springs
work For this reason Taurus was said by
Virgil to open the year with his golden
horns" The tips of these horns-and very
long horns they are-are marked by Two
stars. one of the third and one of the fourth
| magnitude situated about midway between
Capella and Betelgeuse. The Bull consists.
| in fact mainly of horns and face, the lat
! ter being formed by the V-shaped cluster OF
the Hyades, at one corner Of which stands
Aldebaran Very likely, this face, or head.
certainly suggestive object, Is all there
was of the Bull originally At any rate. al
though the chartmakers have added
| shoulders and forelegs, no trace Of these
| can be found among the stars. The Plei-
AIDES are in the Bulls shoulder.
The Wagner.
The brilliant star now seen at a high altt-
| tude in the northwest, above and at the
right of Aidebaran, is Capella, one OF the
| brightest three stars in the northern hem
| isphere. 1t stands in the left shoulder of
| Auriga, the Wagner, who Is represented
| upon celestial charts a man seated, his
| right foot resting on the tip OF the northern
| horn of Taurus, holding reins In his right
| hand and with his left three kids, while
the mother goat. represented by the star
| Capelia, chambers upon his shoulder. The
| five principal stars of Auriga form we'll
marked pentagon, the sides of which have
| nearly equal lengths. The Milky Way
| passes through the constellation, and 1t Is
consequently rich in stars of the lower
| ma gnitudeS.
| Beta Aurigae. a star of the second magnl-
| tude in the right shoulder of the constella-
ton, was few years ago discovered to be
! "spectroscopic binary" with period OF
| four days; that is to say, the spectroscope
| revealed it as a double star. of which the
| two componeuts circle round each other,
| though so near together are they that they
cannot be seen separately with even the
largest telescopes Recently Prof. Camp
/ bell of the Lick observatory has discovered
| with the spectroscope that Capella also Is
| a binary star, perhaps a triple star, as he
had previously discovered the Pole star to
| be triple. In the case of Capella, as of the
| Pole star. the companion is a dark body.
| The Ursa Major.
| The principal stars which form the Great
Bear are shown on the planisphere given
| herewith The figure Of the Bear there
| sketched Is crude, no doubt. but 1t has the
| merit Of representing something which can
| be seen In this part Of the heavens, which
| cannot be said of the figure of this con-
| stellation usually found upon a celestial
| chart. The most striking part of the Great
| Bear Is the Great Dipper. or the Plough, as
our English cousins prefer to call this sug-
gestive group of seven stars, which forms
| the Bears hindquarters and his decidedly
! unbearlike tail. This dipper or plough was
| formerly known In England as Arthur's
| or Charles VAIN. and is still known to the
Germans as Karls Wagon.
An Interesting Star.
| The middle star in the handle Of the Dip
per bears the name Mizar. given it by the
| Arabs. Near it is small star known as
Alcor, the Faint One. which is said to
| have been considered by the Arabs good
test of eyesight. though the eye must be
| decidedly a poor one which cannot now see
| it on clear night, circumstance which
may perhaps indicate that the star Is now
brighter than formerly. Mizar is seen
| through even a small telescope to be a
| double star and is a particularly fine OBJ
| ject for such an instrument 1t was the
! first discovered of double stars. the number
| of which is now reckoned by the thousand
| Moreover it Is now known to be also a
| spectroscopic binary, and, curiously enough
| it was the first discovered of this new class
| animation of Photographic plates of star
spectra at the Harvard College observatory
| in 1889.
The Stellar Twins.
Turning now to the twin stars Castor and
| Pollux. We find in Castor, the more north
| erly of the two. another very interesting
| star. 1t Is Of the full second magnitude
! and Is Of bluish-white color. which makes